Page:Report on the outbreak of plague at Fremantle.djvu/8

 disease has appeared in Fremantle each year; so why should it require a re-introduction this year? The last case in Australia was on the 24th November, 1902, at Townsville, and no boat comes direct from there. The last case in Brisbane was on 15th August, 1902—rather a remote date. Of course there is the possibility of its coming from Asia in spite of the strict supervision exercised. The former conclusion, that good ordinary municipal sanitation is the best preventive of plague, appears confirmed. Unfortunately, the outbreak does not throw any further light on the relation of rat and man in the epidemiology of plague. The first infected rat was not found till February 2nd—nine days after the first case had occurred, and only after 30 rats had been examined. The patients did not catch the disease from each other, and the rats did not catch it from them, as they were always removed before they could become infectious. Therefore, seeing that rats were suffering from plague practically synchronously with man, it seems fair to infer that the latter took it from the former, though there remains the possibility that both got it from some common source.

G. H. S. BLACKBURNE, Acting President, Central Board of Health.