. Interstate medical journal . Fig. 1.—Table showing the number of plague patients and infected rats during theyear 1905 in Osaka and Kobe. 320,000 yen, although the number of patients there only numbered 15—i. e., 21,333 yen for every victim. These figures show the expense ofplague outbreaks even when they are considered apart from their dread- 602 KITASATO. ful effect upon human lives. From the facts already given it will not bedifficult to infer how much the present epidemic, which is raging in Kobeand Osaka with unparalleled vigor, will burden the financial resourcesof the country. Already
. Interstate medical journal . Fig. 1.—Table showing the number of plague patients and infected rats during theyear 1905 in Osaka and Kobe. 320,000 yen, although the number of patients there only numbered 15—i. e., 21,333 yen for every victim. These figures show the expense ofplague outbreaks even when they are considered apart from their dread- 602 KITASATO. ful effect upon human lives. From the facts already given it will not bedifficult to infer how much the present epidemic, which is raging in Kobeand Osaka with unparalleled vigor, will burden the financial resourcesof the country. Already the city of Kobe has given out 310,000 yenand Osaka city 470,000 yen for its prevention; and it is apparent lromthe present conditions that we will have to spend considerably moremoney to keep the plague at bay. Such is the direct burden of plague upon the finances of a country,but this is not all; for the indirect detrimental effects must also be con-sidered. This loss, indeed, can not be estimated, because it is a wide. Fig. 2.—Showing area in which disinfection of houses and the destruction of rats is be -ingcarried on. The infected area may be seen inclosed within a zinc wall. and far-reaching one, affecting both domestic and foreign affairs andone which can not be compared with that of an epidemic of any otherkind which involves only its direct damage upon a limited , indeed, is a fearful enemy to mankind. Two methods of invasion are apparent from the studies of the epidem-ics in Japan: One is contagion from imported plague patients and tneother by contact with the disease germ mingled with the freight broughtin from some infected region. The nature of the preventive measuresto be employed depends upon the source of the epidemic. If the invasionbe by mean? of a plague patient, discovery is made easier and preventionor quarantine, as the case may be, can promptly be applied, so that the COMBATING PLAGUE IN JAPAN. 603 depredations of the disease may be
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