Upon the establishment of civil government Governor Taft was very
desirous of retaining Major Bourns's services, but this did not prove
practicable, as he desired to give up government work and engage in
private business.
There was promptly created an efficient board of health made up of men
of recognized ability and large practical experience. Its chairman was
Major Louis M. Maus, commissioner of public health. The other members
were Mr. H. D. Osgood, sanitary engineer; Dr. Franklin H. Meacham,
chief sanitary inspector; Dr. Paul C. Freer, superintendent of
government laboratories; and Dr. Manuel Gomez, secretary.
This board was promptly put upon its mettle. It had inherited from
the army an incipient epidemic of bubonic plague in Manila, and
the disease soon spread to Cavite and also to Cebu, then the second
port of the Philippines in commercial importance. It also appeared in
several provincial towns near Cavite. An effective campaign against it,
inaugurated at this time, was never abandoned until it was completely
eradicated in 1906,--a noteworthy result to achieve in a country like
the Philippines.
On March 21, 1902, I was advised that two patients at San Juan de
Dios hospital were developing symptoms of Asiatic cholera, and on the
following day a positive laboratory diagnosis was made.
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