Plague: Its Cause and the Manner of its Extension, Its Menace, Its Control and Suppression, Its Diagnosis and TreatmentJackson, Thomas Wright
History
Plague: Its Cause and the Manner of its Extension, Its Menace, Its Control and Suppression, Its Diagnosis and Treatment
Jackson, Thomas Wright
Plague; Rats as carriers of disease
THEATRE DISINFECTION.--All the cinematographs and theatres in the city
were disinfected upon repeated occasions by spraying with petroleum
and cresols, with a view to destroying fleas and preventing plague
infection.
Attempts at deception and concealment of plague patients, upon the part
of members of their families, were numerous, but with the close
scrutiny of death certificates and dead bodies exercised at all health
stations it is believed that all cases were recognized.
One case of extremely careless diagnosis occurred. A death certificate
was furnished by a local native doctor who certified the cause of death
to be "uterine hemorrhage." Suspicion arising, an autopsy was ordered
and a pronounced case of bubonic plague was disclosed postmortem. No
evidence of uterine hemorrhage, except slight menstrual signs, was
found.
The destruction of infected fleas in plague houses is of course the
primary object of the disinfection by spraying, which is thoroughly
carried out in every house where a case of human plague or rat plague
appears. The method is a simple one and consists in spraying a mixture
of cresols (2 per cent.) and kerosene (98 per cent.) over all surfaces
of the house, floors, walls, underlying ground, furniture and the
spaces above ceilings, etc., using the mixture liberally and securing a
general surface distribution. There is no doubt of the toxicity of this
mixture to all fleas and bed-bugs which it reaches, and it is
undoubtedly an effective measure in rendering an infected house safe.
All of the instances of multiple house infections, where the cases
recurred after disinfection, in Manila, have been in houses where, for
one reason or another, the recommended structural rat-proofing has been
postponed or where it has not been done. Thus, on Calle San Fernando
the sequence of the four cases (their progress by days and in
consecutive houses) is explained by the travel of rats through
efficient rat runs present in the walls and ceilings, rather than by
the passage of fleas through partition walls, from uncommunicating
house to house.
[Illustration: A RAT INFESTED PLAGUE INTERIOR]
So also at Calle Cabildo, where the superstructure of the house was a
veritable sieve, there was a series of communicating double walls.
At the house on Calle T. Alonso a similar condition existed, but here
the two cases which occurred may have been synchronously infected, or
nearly so, previous to disinfection of the premises.
At Calle Comercio, where six days elapsed between two cases, the rooms
and building were piled full of merchandise, defeating immediate
disinfection, that is, efficient disinfection, until all the
merchandise was moved and the rooms were emptied.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account