Fleas and Plague 149 



"(9) The local inflammatory reaction in animals 

 which have died from plague occasioned by the bites 

 of infected insects is either very slight or absent. In 

 the latter case it is only by the situation of the pri- 

 mary bubo that one can approximately identify the 

 area through which the plague infection entered the 

 organism. 



"(10) Infected fleas communicate the disease to 

 healthy animals for three days after infection. Infected 

 bugs have the power of doing so for five days. 



"(11) It was not found possible for more than two 

 animals to be infected by the bites of the same bugs. 



"(12) The crushing of infected bugs in situ during 

 the process of biting, occasioned in the majority of 

 cases the infection of the healthy animal with plague. 



" (13) The injury to the skin occasioned by the bite 

 of bugs or fleas offers a channel through which the 

 plague microbes can easily enter the body and occasion 

 death from plague. 



"(14) Crushed infected bugs and fleas and their 

 faeces, like other plague material, can infect through 

 the small punctures of the skin caused by the bites of 

 bugs and fleas, but only for a short time after the in- 

 fliction of these bites. 



"(15) In the case of linen and other fabrics soiled 

 by crushing infected fleas and bugs on them, or by the 

 faeces of these insects the plague microbes can under 

 favorable conditions remain alive and virulent during 

 more than five months. 



