R6le of Fleas in the Transmission of Plague 



169 



In California there were 125 cases in the period 190004; three cases 

 in the next three years and then from May 1907 to March 1908, 

 during the height of the outbreak, 170 cases. Since that time there 

 have been only sporadic cases, the last case reported being in May 

 1914. Still more recent were the outbreaks in the Philippine Islands, 

 Porto Rico, and Cuba. 



On June 24, 1914, there was recognized a case of human plague 

 in New Orleans. The Federal Health Service immediately took 

 charge, and measures for the eradication of the disease were vigor- 

 ously enforced. Up to Otcober 10, 1914 there had been reported 

 30 cases of the disease in man, and 181 cases of plague in rats. 



112 b. The modern method of combating the plague. A day's catch of rats in the fight 

 against plague in San Francisco. Courtesy of Review of Reviews. 



The present-day methods of combating bubonic plague are well 

 illustrated by the fight in San Francisco. Had it not been for the 

 strenuous and radical anti-plague campaign directed by the United 

 States Marine Hospital Service we might have had in our own 

 country an illustration of what the disease can accomplish. On what 

 newly acquired knowledge was this fight based? 



The basis was laid in 1894, when the plague bacillus was first 

 discovered. All through the centuries, before and during the Christian 

 era, down to 1894, the subject was enveloped in darkness and there 

 had been a helpless, almost hopeless struggle in ignorance on the part 

 of physicians, sanitarians, and public health officials against the 

 ravages of this dread disease, Now its cause, method of propaga- 

 tion and means to prevent its spread are matters of scientific cer- 

 tainty. 



