PLAGUE AND BACILLUS PESTIS 821 



the most important problems of prevention, various governments 

 have laid down methods of collection and shipment of material that 

 should be followed in the case of suspected cases in man and rats. 

 Public Health Reports, Volume 35, Number 37, lays down the method 

 in which material is to be collected for the United States. This we 

 quote in toto from this Bulletin as follows: 

 To the Officers of the Public Health Service and State and Local Health 



Officers : 



Owing to the appearance of plague in several American ports it is 

 important that all cases of suspected plague, both in man and animals, be 

 subjected to a bacteriological examination. 



1. The following material from persons or rodents suffering from plague 

 may be sent to laboratories: 



Human Cases (Living) 



(a) Pus or gland fluid from buboes aspirated by syringe or collected 



after incision, on agar slants. 



(b) Portions of tissues affected, removed at operation, in sterilized bottles, 



securely stoppered. 



(c) Blood specimens, in sterilized sealed glass ampules or test tubes. 



(d) Cultures of suspected organisms, on agar slants. 



Human Cases (Necropsy) 



(a) Portions of the affected tissues preferably bubo, lung and spleen 

 in sterilized glass bottles, securely stoppered. 



Rodents 

 (a) The whole rodent carcass, in fruit preserving jar. 



2. Do not place tissues or rodents in a preservative. The bacteriological 

 diagnosis of plague rests upon the production of the disease in laboratory 

 animals, and the isolation and growth of the causative organism, Bacillus 

 pestis. Any preservative that kills this organism will defeat the purpose 

 of the examination. If decomposition of the specimen is feared, it may be 

 placed in a tight container and this in turn surrounded by ice in a larger 

 container, preferably of wood. Every specimen should be plainly marked 

 preferably by ordinary pencil, showing the date and the exact location from 

 which it was taken. 



3. The shipper must make certain that the specimen is packed in such 

 manner as to prevent possible danger to those handling the same, provided 

 the package is properly handled. 



In this connection it is necessary that specimens be wrapped in sufficient 

 cotton or other absorbent material, to prevent leakage of fluid from the 

 container should the glass be broken. 



The Following Instructions should be explicitly observed. 



1. Ship by express Federal laws prohibit the shipping of plague-infected 

 material, or cultures, by mail. 



