100 years ago in June, Galveston, TX had an outbreak of bubonic plague.

The "third pandemic" of plague started in Yunnan China in mid to late 1800's, and spread around the globe, arriving in Galveston, New Orleans, Vera Cruz, and Pensacola around 1920.

Images: Galveston, 1920.

1st victim was 17 yr old grain and feedstore worker. Symptoms, June 8th: dizzy, cold swelling (bubo) on groin. By 16th, he was comatose in isolation ward at John Sealy Hospital, near where the Galveston National Lab, a BSL4 facility, is today.

Dead rats (and numerous fleas) were found in the feedstore. Local physicians order "Mulford anti-plague serum" collected from convalescent patients.

June 18th, 2nd patient: 25 yr old woman who sewed feedbags at the same store. She is treated with serum and recovers.

Local buildings are converted to plague laboratories. 40 rat trappers are hired. Citizens encouraged to poison and trap, collect and present dead rats (dipped in kerosene) to lab.

In all, 46,623 rats were examined. 67 were plague positive.

Here's a picture of the plague lab workers collecting samples from tens of thousands of collected rats.

Source for this image and more: ( https://www.tmc.edu/news/2020/02/bubonic-plague-in-galveston-recalled-in-its-centennial-year/)

Campaigns to fumigate, poison and trap rats all over the island persisted for several years, including putting poison along the protective sea wall.

The butcher's tally:
9 men and 9 women were infected, aged 3 to 79.
7 went untreated and died
11 were treated with serum, of which 6 died and 5 recovered.
72% case fatality rate.

The last fatality was a 10 yr old school boy who "frequented the docks", who died November 2020.

One interesting story:
Dr. Anna Marie Bowie was a pathologist & instructor at local medical school UT Medical Branch (UTMB). She stuck herself through a glove, received serum & an experimental vaccine, returned to work 4 weeks later.

This is what I love about history: you pull one little thread, and it unravels layer upon layer of stories of people, just like you, living their lives the best they could, facing the same kinds of challenges.

History is all around us, all the time, with ripples into today.