The problem I see...if you were reasonably healthy, and then started to notice serious diarrhea, some fever, and some cramps...you might go to a doctor, and with enough tests...determine this in a few days.
However, if you were a serious dope-user, on heroin...you could skip three warning stages, and go into some bleeding (lacking clot ability), severe weakness, and then skin turning black. By that point, streptomycin would have limits.
Add to it....just in one single camp area of 200 tents, you might ID ten guys in a week with the plague, and bring in the resources to test all 350 people....find half of them with the beginning elements, and forty with serious effects going on. You’d need to isolate the 200-odd people real quick. Then you’d need to dismantle this camp and do a massive clean-up and destroy the rat population ASAP. Where exactly will you put the new camp, and won’t this just help to restart the plague outbreak somewhere else?
There was 3 of us. We were supposed to go get our immunizations updated before we could go on R&R. One of the immunizations was for plague. The vaccine was defective and we got the plague. None of the Army doctors at the hospital had ever seen a case of plague before, so they gave us penicillin. We didn’t respond to penicillin and by the end of the 1st week, a hospital corpsman going through our medical records noticed the recent immunizations and put 2-and-2 together. After that they gave us the correct meds, streptomycin and we began to get better. It was 24 days before any of us was released from the hospital.
And yes, small patches of our skin did turn black. There was also the massive painful swelling of our lymph nodes, especially the buboes which swelled to the size of oranges.
I know a woman in the LA area, known her since we were kids.
Lives in a beautiful home. Very attractive woman. Just beautiful to look at, and very sweet person.
I found out one of these nuts broke into her house and held her captive for a day, raping her, roughing her up. Its been a few years and she is still affected.
Either people will elect someone to fix this or move out. I dont see them fixing it. Those that stay are in for a very rude awakening.
And by "isolate," you would have to mean "imprison." These "proud homeless" don't take well to being isolated or cooped up anywhere. Say what you will, they enjoy their freedom, and they despise authority.