Basic HTML Version
December 1971
BLACI(
PLAGUE REVISITED
( Contimtetl from page 16)
of fleas parasitic to these rodents have
been implicated in the spread of plague
germs.
These animals normally do not come
into contad with human beings. Only
when persons unthinkingly pick up a
dead ground squirrel, for instance, or
bunt for animals such as rabbits or
prairie dogs in an infected district, does
the danger of contracting the disease be·
come acute.
Great stretches of the North Ameri–
can continent are within potential dan·
ger spots for sporadic cases of
b11bonic
plagNe.
There is a vast reservoir of
potential plague in ground squirrels,
field mice, chipmunks, rabbits and mar·
mots throughout the Western United
States and Canada. This pool of infec–
tion can never be eradicated, unless all
rodents frorn California to Oklahoma
could be effectively de-fleaed - an ob·
viously impossible task.
Is the Danger Real?
Plague fiares sporadically in Califor–
nia, Oregon- all the Western states–
especially New Mexico. Recently,
plague-infecteJ fleas were found on the
dog belonging to a state governor. They
are no respecter of persons. Many cases
of plague have turned up on one Indian
reservation, these generaUy being caused
by contact between children and dis–
eased prairie dogs. Also, the relatively
new phenomenon of hippie communes
has caused ao increased likelihood that,
in an attempt to return to "nature," hip–
pies may risk sorne of the more potent
effects. A recent case involved a hippie
who contracted plague from a cat which
lived in his teepee.
It
had caught a
plague-ridden mouse.
Health authorities have thus far been
able to contain these infections by act–
ing quickly at tbe first signs of danger
to the human population. This involves
eradication of known animal life
carrying the dreaded germs. On one
occasion over 50,000 prairie. dogs were
gassed to death in order to prevent an
outbreak in one Southwestern state.
Authorities usually basten to stress
The
PLAIN TRUTH
that the chances of a major outbreak of
tbe black deatb are quite remote, but
that in view of the virulence of the dis–
ease and its potential for rapid spread
from animals to man, they are not will–
ing to take any chances. Tbeir biggest
worry is the rats.
T he Rat Plague
Rats outnumber people, even in the
United States. No area, no matter how
wealthy, or how exclusive, can eradicate
tbe squeaking and pillaging bordes of
garbage pail plunderers
~nd
wall gnaw–
ers. Rats abound in city ghettos, feast–
iog on the mounds of garbage and
refuse, terrorizing the inbabitants and
biting cbildren in tbe night. Estimates
indicate that over 60,000 persons suffer
ead1 year
f
rom being bitteu by rats,
rnost of thern children lying asleep in
33
A mere ounce of food and one of
water each day are enougb to sustain a
rat in good health. Most eat more than
their share, though, and tend to congre–
gate where the living is easy. Both sexes
of tbe genus
rattw
are exceptionally fe–
cund. Females may bear six litters ayear
ranging in size from 6 to
22.
Even with
an incredibly high infant mortality rate,
the rats are facing a population explo–
sion of staggering proportions.
British rats have easily become resist–
ant to the latest forms of poisons, even
growing fat and healtby on them.
Man's attempts to eradicate tbe rat have
failed, generally. Cats, ferrets and
small terriers remain the best weapons.
What med ical scientists fear is tbis:
what if the city rat populations -
currently free of plague-bearing fleas in
most areas - should become infested
-------
2 HUMAN CASES CONFIRMED
State Reports Bubonic
Plag~e
in 4 North-Cent
Counttes
Asian Flu V iruses
•
d
BubolJic.,
Suspected of'Hiding'
Pl
InPigson T aiwan
ague
0
11
Rise
• •
ffer Evidence
EQUINE
D!SEASE·•oi~
ATHREATUPSTATE
;.
State
M-------.:_
oves
toS
Cases R
In
S.
eported
outhUJest
Pl~!:VER
(AP)
m
Hi t bv
Sto~- .
Pray
Are~
bed. Sometimes, however, rats will
deliberately attack an adult.
More often, rats go quietly and ef–
ficiently about their business of stealth
and destruction. Hawaiian rats muncb
througb an estimated $4.) million
worth of sugar cane eacb year. India's
rats eat enougb wbeat to equal the
entire amount supplied by U. S. foreign
aid each year. America is, in effect,
sending only enough wheat for the rats.
~':id~Je ~ o-~~e
:>cou;;P
B_,u,b~~ic
witb the deadly disease frorn tbeir coun–
try cousins?
If
that were to happen,
modero man could witness a modero
rerun of the earlier catastrophes.
The World Health Organization has
warned tbat man faces a "growing men·
ace of explosive outbreaks of human
plague" - especially now that cities are
growing at such a rapid rate.
Couldn't medicine control plague?
Technically, yes. Victims whose dis-