The value of life

Two squirrels recently died in Yosemite. It was the plague that felled them.
Yosemite National Park closed the popular Tuolumne Meadows Campground  through Aug. 21 in order to treat fleas in rodent burrows, officials announced Friday.

State health officials began investigating human plague in the park and surrounding areas after a child from Los Angeles contracted the infectious bacterial disease. The child had visited the Stanislaus National Forest and camped at the Crane Flat Campground in Yosemite last month.

The child was still recovering from the disease, which is typically carried by wild rodents, such as squirrels and chipmunks, as well as their fleas. Fleas can carry the disease from infected dead rodents to other animals, including humans.
Initial symptoms of a plague infection include high fever, chills, weakness and swollen lymph nodes, officials said. Plague can be fatal if not treated with antibiotics in its early stages.

Visitors were given precautionary information about plague following the child’s infection and the area was monitored, but the Crane Flat Campground remained because public health officials didn’t recommend campground closures, according to the park.

“Human cases of plague are rare, with the last reported human infection in California occurring in 2006,” California Public Health. “Although this is a rare disease, people should protect themselves from infection by avoiding any contact with wild rodents.”
Plague came to the United States via rat-infested steam ships from infected areas, according to the CDC. Los Angeles was home to the last urban plague epidemic, which took place between 1924 and 1925.

Just a thought.