﻿14 The Philippine Journal of Science 1914 



EVIDENCE OF FLEA TRANSMISSION OF PLAGUE 



On account of the completeness of the results obtained by the 

 investigation of the death from plague of William Crozier, the 

 editor of the Manila Daily Bulletin, it is thought that it might 

 be of interest to give a brief description of the findings. Mr. 

 Crozier felt ill on the evening of September 18, 1913. On the 

 morning of the 19th, he was admitted to a local general hospital. 

 By afternoon he developed symptoms suspicious of plague, and 

 microscopical examinations made on September 20 showed typ- 

 ical bipolar-staining organisms. He was immediately removed 

 to the San Lazaro plague hospital, where he died on September 

 22 from bubonic plague. The diagnosis was biologically con- 

 firmed. On September 6, a plague rat was found in the block 

 next to the one in which the building in which he worked was 

 located. A mummified plague rat was found in one of the 

 drawers of Mr. Crozier's desk in his office. A number of fleas 

 were seen hopping about, and one of these was captured and 

 definitely identified at the Bureau of Science as a specimen of 

 Pulex clieopis. Upon the flea being ground up and stained 

 specimens made, a bipolar-staining organism was found. In the 

 meantime, the mummified rat that was found in the desk was 

 also ground up, and inoculations made into healthy laboratory 

 rats resulted in typical cases of plague. This point is interesting 

 for a number of reasons. In the first place, it shows that live 

 fleas may harbor virulent plague bacilli for a period of at least 

 two weeks, because it can be stated with certainty that the rat 

 must have been dead for at least that period of time and probably 

 very much longer. The possibility, of course, remains that the 

 fleas might have come from rats that visited the drawer after 

 the rat which was found had died. If, however, the fleas were 

 from the dead rat which was found, it shows that fleas may 

 live at least two weeks and harbor plague bacilli during that 

 period. It does not seem probable that the fleas fed on the 

 dead rat and thus ingested plague organisms after the rat's 

 death. 



In view of the foregoing findings it would appear possible that 

 plague might be introduced into a country by infected fleas. 



SANITARY MEASURES EMPLOYED 



On account of the district sanitary organization which exists 

 in Manila, no particular additional organization was required to 

 combat the plague, except to employ a force of laborers for the 

 purpose of catching rats and carrying out general cleaning-up 



