This is a word you definitely don’t want to hear as you’re packing up your camping equipment: plague. As in the plague, that little inconvenience that decimated Europe way back in the Dark Ages, killing off a third of the population. Nasty stuff.
While we can consider it mostly eradicated in common society, this rare disease has never really gone away. This summer it has popped up in Yosemite National Park of all places. In mid July, a young child became ill after camping with his family and the diagnosis was a shocking one. The child is being treated at a hospital and is expected to recover. No other family members have become ill. While deadly if not treated expeditiously, the plague can be cured with antibiotics, and transmission from person to person is rare. The camping area where the family stayed was temporarily closed and was treated with insecticide to kill any fleas present. The fleas, after all, are the culprits. They transmit the disease after they pick it up from their animal hosts.
Just a few days ago, two squirrels were found dead in the park and the cause was also identified as plague. Park officials announced they were temporarily closing the Tuolumne Meadows Campground in order to treat for fleas, as was done in the other location.
So what does this mean for your summer or fall camping plans? Well, don’t panic. The risk of infection is extremely low. The last case of plague exposure in Yosemite was in 1959 so this is not something that should put you off camping or hiking. Check around your campsite when you arrive. Look for rodent activity and consider relocating is you see what appear to be shoddy conditions. Yosemite cleans their campgrounds regularly and maintains the areas to discourage rodent population growth. If you get bit by fleas or by an animal, check with your doctor as soon as you get home or if you show any signs of illness.
A bacterial infection, plague symptoms may seem like a cold at first – fever, chills, weakness, but also abdominal pain and sometimes shortness of breath and swollen lymph nodes can occur. In any given year, there are 10 to 12 cases of plague reported in the United States, most coming from people being bitten by infected prairie dogs. There has not been a case of human to human transmission in nearly 100 years. So get outside! And don’t tease the prairie dogs.
Images via pbump, otisarchives4
