text: On February 22nd, about thirty-two-hundred cat lovers assembled in a Tokyo park to celebrate Japan's annual Cat Day and to mourn the passing of so many adored felines. Ironically, the celebration—or, what used to be a celebration—had begun in 1987 when hundreds of cat owners had gathered in an auditorium to offer prayers for the longevity of their animals. They had also honored a famous cat that had traveled 222 miles to find its owner after having been accidentally left in the countryside. The date of February 22 had been chosen because two-twenty-two is pronounced ni-ni-ni, resembling nya-nya-nya, meow-meow-meow in Japanese.
  
  Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the CDC attempted, unsuccessfully, to produce virus-free kittens from FHF-infected mother cats by cesarean section. Unfortunately, the placenta failed to act as a barrier to the virus; all newborn kittens of infected mother cats harbored the virus at birth.
  
  In many labs, both in North America and abroad, scientists attempted to grow the FHF virus in cell culture. They tested feline T-cells, B-cells, mixed spleen cells, liver, kidney, lung, and even cancerous muscle cells. The FHF virus refused to grow outside a cat's body. None of the scientists could explain why.
  
  At the CDC, biochemist Larraine Sakai purified the virus using high-performance liquid chromatography. She was able to produce only minute quantities of the highly purified agent. Much greater amounts would be necessary for the immunization of large numbers of cats, even if a way could be found to make FHF virus an effective immunizing agent.
  
  Public-health authorities on all continents expressed concern about the increasing incidence of rodent-borne diseases. In Long Beach, California, an epidemic of rat-bite fever broke out near the docks. One hundred forty-seven cases of typhus were identified in Northern Germany near Hamburg, and another thirty-six cases in Copenhagen. At Tabriz in Northern Iran, yellow jaundice, commonly transmitted by rat urine, was traced to contamination of a local water supply by Leptospira bacteria.
  
  Chinese authorities attempted to deal with the booming rat population. Increasingly, rodents were making their way into factories, warehouses, granaries, and even tourist hotels. Spot-food shortages occurred in Northeast China and in Japan. Government officials considered a crash program to breed rat-killing snakes and weasels. Meanwhile, large quantities of zinc phosphide and sodium diphacinone were used to poison the rats.
  
  Especially ominous was an outbreak of thirteen human plague cases in the Korean city of Musan on the Chinese border. In addition, forty-seven people had died of bubonic plague in northern Uganda's West Nile region, and another four hundred and eighty were under treatment for the disease. The World Health Organization dispatched a five-member medical team to the area.