[12] Centralbl. f. Backt., 1 Abt. (1897), 22, 87, 437. Report of Indian Plague Commission (1898–99). Zeitschr. f. Hyg. u. Infectionskrankh. (1901), 36, 89. Kolle und Wassermann: Handbuch der pathogenen Mikroorganismen (1903), 2, 538. Zeitschr. f. Hyg. u. Infectionskrankh. (1905), 51, 268. Journ. Hyg., Cambridge (1907–10), plague numbers. Ibid. (1908), 8, 162, 260.
During the recent outbreak of plague in Manila, several samples of bed-bugs from the beds of the plague patients and dog fleas from a plague-infected house were collected and examined, but with negative result.
In spite of the fact that it adds nothing new to the question of whether or not plague can be transmitted by fleas, since the question has been conclusively answered by the work of the Indian Commission, nevertheless the following observations of a small outbreak of plague among animals, the spreading of which was due solely to fleas, are of interest.
One wild rat was inoculated with strain Iloilo 3 of Bacillus pestis. The skin adjoining the root of the right ear was scarified, and a loopful of the culture was smeared on the scarified skin. The rat was found dead three days after the inoculation.
The cage containing the dead rat was immersed in kreolin solution. At autopsy the cervical glands were found slightly swollen, somewhat reddened, but no hæmorrhagic œdema of the surrounding tissue was noticeable. There was slight necrosis at the place of inoculation, showing superficial, purulent discharge. Clear effusion in both pleural cavities and one hemorrhage in the pleura were found. The lungs were hyperæmic, but otherwise normal. The spleen was of somewhat darker color, but otherwise normal in size and appearance. The liver showed a slight degree of parenchymatous degeneration, the congestion making prominent the structure of the organ. The typical, although not constant, changes of the organ, which are characteristic of natural plague infection in rats, were absent. The kidneys were without macroscopic change. The lymph glands, with exception of the cervical nodes, were normal.
Examination of the rat's fur revealed ectoparasites on the neck, under the chin, and back of the ears; these at the time of the examination apparently were dead. About 6 common rat fleas were found and identified as Lœmopsylla cheopis Rothsch. The parasites were immersed in sterile salt solution for three hours. When removed in a dry test tube, they began to move about sluggishly. The intestinal tract of these fleas contained blood.
Five of the fleas were crushed by means of sterile forceps, and inserted in a pocket under the shaved skin of a guinea-pig. The animal died of plague within three days, showing considerable hemorrhagic œdema around the place of inoculation, typical bilateral inguinal buboes, and characteristic changes in the spleen. Smears and cultures made from the bubo and spleen were positive for Bacillus pestis.
Another wild rat, which was in a separate cage in the same room where rat 1 had been kept, died twenty-four hours after rat 1. The two cages were at least 10 centimetres apart. Rat 2 harbored fleas of the same species as were found on rat 1.
Numerous severe bites were detected back of the ears and on the neck of the dead animal. The post-mortem findings were identical with those described in rat 1; that is, cervical buboes, pleural effusion, and slightly enlarged spleen.
It is well to remark that both rats had been kept in the same room for about six months. Fleas had never been noticed on our guinea-pigs. During the time the rats had been kept in the plague house no irregular results were noticed in plague-inoculated animals. At the time the first rat was inoculated no other plague-infected animals were in the plague house, and since that time another building has been used for plague-infected animals.