The outbreak of plague which took place at Vienna last month has attracted great attention. It appears that the Austrian Commission which visited Bombay last year for the purpose of plague brought back with them
investigating
cultivations of the bacillus with which
experiments have been been
in
kept
an
made.
The
sundry organism has
active condition, and
a
labora-
tory attendant named Barisch somehow?probably from incautious handling of the material
while in a state of intoxication?inhaled some of it and took ill with symptoms of pneumonia Cultivations from the on the 15th of October. and inoculation of rats with the same
sputum
made and at first gave negative results, but eventually typical colonies of the plague bacillus were
were
produced
blood of
one
both from
sputum
and from the
of the inoculated rats. Barisch died He was attended
on
the 18th of October.
Dr.
Mueller, who sickened
by
on
the 21st of October,
and died the next night. A nurse, named Pecha, contracted the disease on the 20th, and died on Elaborate isolation and disinfection precautions were adopted, and up to the present time no further case has occurred. The outthe 30th.