An examination of 40 rats found that five of them carried the bubonic plague. Oakland takes steps to exterminate the threat to public health.
City Starts Rat Hunt
A widespread rat extermination campaign was under way today after a report by health officials that 5 out of 40 rodents examined were infected with bubonic plague.
No cases among human beings have been reported, and as the section inhabited by rats is remote from the city proper, there is little fear of the disease spreading.
Restrictions have been placed along the western water front where the infected rodents were found, and ships docking in this section must be fumigated, according to Dr. R.H. Creel of the United States Public Health Service. Officials of Alameda, Berkley and Oakland conferred with health officers to effect an extensive campaign to rid the district of the disease carriers.
Source: Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 28 Dec. 1924.
