The Plague

Bailey Everett White, plumber's helper in the town of Hobbs, N.Mex., went hunting one afternoon a fortnight ago. He shot three rabbits, brought the bag home to his wife to cook, sat down to supper. About four days later, he began to complain of pains in his stomach. Last week Hunter White was dead. His illness: bubonic plague, the dread, flea-borne disease which wiped out a quarter of Europe's population in the Middle Ages.

The Black Death has no chance of repeating its performance in the U.S., but the plague is difficult to eradicate, because 1) it is carried by wild rodents in woods and fields beyond the reach of public health services; and 2) it is so rare in humans that many doctors fail to diagnose it correctly. In some stages, bubonic plague may attack the lungs and become pneumonic plague, a disease which can spread like wildfire from person to person.

Health agencies in states where the plague has cropped up carry on a campaign of education and prevention that has kept the plague under control (322 deaths in 50 years). The need for education was demonstrated last week by New Mexico ranchers who asked a public health worker to please spread some plague germs on their lands. They thought it would be a good way to kill off prairie dogs.

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