﻿8 The Philippine Journal of Science isu 



The victim was found dead at his home with a history of 

 having been ill for about three days. On post-mortem exami- 

 nation, typical plague buboes were found in the right groin and 

 axilla. Inoculation into guinea pigs resulted in typical attacks 

 of plague. The victim was a permanent resident of Manila, and 

 had not been away from the city in many months. He worked 

 and lived in a section that is far removed from the water front, 

 and did not associate with persons who had been out of the city 

 or persons who were connected with shipping. So far as known, 

 the nearest focus of the disease was Hongkong. Therefore, 

 the source of this infection was difficult to explain. 



The next case was found June 26 in a Filipina woman who 

 lived at 1615 Calle Azcarraga near the Arranque market, which 

 is over a kilometer from the place where the previous victim 

 either worked or lived. 



The next case did not occur until August 4, which was thirty- 

 nine days later. - This victim resided at 139 Calle Villalobos in 

 Quiapo, which is a large retail district located near the Pasig 

 River and fully 1.5 kilometers from where the previous case had 

 occurred. 



The next case occurred on August 7 on the same street and 

 block as the preceding case. 



The next case occurred on August 21 at 352 Calle Echague, a 

 street comer, which is also in the same block as Calle Villalobos. 



It may be of interest to note that these last three cases were 

 all in schoolboys under 16 years of age. 



By October 20, there had been 13 cases from the beginning of 

 the outbreak, and these occurred at irregular intervals and in 

 different sections of the city. Then between the dates of October 

 20 and October 22, 13 new cases occurred, so that in a period 

 of two days there were as many cases as there had been during 

 the four preceding months. 



EXPLOSIVE HUMAN OUTBREAK 



An investigation showed that in these latter 13 cases there was 

 definite geographic grouping, which was a feature that had not 

 occurred up to that time. The victims were all laborers who 

 worked at the freight station of the Manila Railroad Company. 

 Inquiry developed the fact that large numbers of rats had been 

 seen dying first in the north warehouse and a few weeks later 

 in the south warehouse. About three weeks after the heavy 

 rat mortality was noticed in the north warehouse, plague ap- 

 peared among the laborers in the south warehouse. The ware- 



