California Squirrels Collected and Examined. During the week ended April 5, 1913, there were examined for plague infection 195 ground squirrels from San Joaquin County and 14 from Contra Costa County. No plague-infected squirrel was found. PNEUMONIA. Cases and Deaths Reported by Cities for Week Ended Apr. 5, 1913. Surg. Long of the Public Health Service reported by telegraph that during the week ended April 19, 1913, there were notified at San Francisco 5 cases of canine rabies and 1 case of equine rabies. SCARLET FEVER, MEASLES, DIPHTHERIA, AND TUBERCULOSIS. Senior Surg. Brooks of the Public Health Service reported by telegraph that during the week ended April 19, 1913, there were notified at Los Angeles 469 cases of measles. IN INSULAR POSSESSIONS. HAWAII. Examination of Rodents. Rats and mongoose have been examined for plague infection as follows: Honolulu, week ended March 29, 1913, 329; Hilo, week ended March 22, 1913, 995; Honokaa, week ended March 22, 1913, 1,887. No plague-infected rodent was found. PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. Manila-Plague. Surg. Heiser, chief quarantine officer and director of health for the Philippine Islands, reports: During the week ended February 22, 1913, 1 case of plague and 2 deaths were notified in Manila, and during the week ended March 8, 1913, 1 case with 1 death. There has been since the 1st of January, 1913, a total of 5 cases of plague with 5 deaths in the city of Manila, the last 2 cases occurring in persons 15 years of age, so that with one exception all the cases have been among young adults. PLAGUE-INFECTED RATS. It is noteworthy that during the week ended March 8 there have been no less than 4 infected rats found on as many different premises. Three were found in the Tondo district. An investigation made after a plague rat was found at 319 Calle Estero Cegado showed the place to be an establishment where bottled goods, such as wine, pickles, etc., are packed. The straw containers for packing the bottles, as well as the bottles proper, are imported from Japan, most of them coming from Osaka, at which place plague is more or less constantly present. Another plague rat was found at number 204 Calle Concha. An investigation of the premises showed them to consist of a tenement house built in accordance with modern rat-proof construction. The tenement adjoining the one in which the plague rat was found was used as an establishment for packing soft drinks for shipment to the Provinces. These bottles were packed in the same form of straw containers mentioned above and were also imported from Japan. A careful search of these straw containers resulted in 27 rats being captured, and unless the premises had been thoroughly rat proofed it would scarcely have been possible to catch the rodents. It is of interest to observe that the increase in the rat infection corresponds to the increase of the number of plague cases which occur in such typical plague centers as Hongkong for instance. At that port the statistics for the past 10 years show that there is a gradual increase in the number of plague cases from January to May and a gradual decrease from May to December. It has been asserted by entomologists that this increase in the number of plague cases corresponds to the greatest activity of the flea-breeding period of the year. The bureau of health of Manila, in order to reduce the danger as much as practicable of plague being conveyed from rats to human beings, has employed 50 more rat catchers, who have been put to work in the infected districts. PORTO RICO. Rats Collected and Examined. Passed Asst. Surg. Creel reports that during the week ended April 5, 1913, there were examined 1,779 rats, collected from various points in Porto Rico, and that of these 538 were collected from various parts of San Juan municipality. No case of plague in man has been notified in Porto Rico since September 12, 1912, and no plague-infected rat has been found since December 19, 1912. |