UNITED STATES PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 37* 



and eradication. In all five officers were engaged in the duty and the 

 outbreak was limited to a small section. As at San Francisco, special 

 emphasis was placed on rat eradication and the rat-proofing of build- 

 ings and docks. A general clean-up and enforcement of sanitary meas- 

 ures have been instituted. What might have been a situation full of 

 deadly peril for this country was averted by the prompt and effective 

 work of the service. 



The report of the Secretary of the Treasury for the fiscal year of 

 1911 presents an optimistic picture of the operations of the Public 

 Health Service and recommends certain features which should be 

 further encouraged. Attention is called to the necessity of enlarging 



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f i»s. 



Isolation Hospital, Cebu Quarantine, Philippine Islands. 



the available fund for fighting epidemic disease. There should be 

 ample provision for emergency measures which may be necessitated at 

 any time by the sudden appearance of epidemic disease, before there is 

 time for Congress to pass special appropriation legislation. Special 

 appropriations are requested for the investigation of pellagra, a disease 

 of serious menace which is spreading widely in the United States, and 

 which threatens to become endemic at terrible cost in lives and money, 

 as it has already done in Italy. Another building is required for the 

 Hygienic Laboratory to provide more room for special researches, dis- 

 infection experiments and the housing of small laboratory animals. 

 The secretary invites particular attention to the " Personnel Bill ' ; 



