The state is grappling with the detection of avian flu and its potential jump from species to species. And about 125 years ago, the bubonic plague made its way into Honolulu. A rat harboring a disease-carrying tick or flea likely brought it over on a ship. Its first victim in the city was You Chong, a Chinese bookkeeper whose office was upstairs in a building on Nuʻuanu Avenue across from what we know today as Murphy’s Bar and Grill.