Child Who Had Camped at Yosemite Recovering From the Plague

A child from Los Angeles County is recovering from a case of the plague, state health officials reported Thursday.

The child was hospitalized after visiting Stanislaus National Forest and camping at Yosemite National Park's Crane Flat Campground. No one else in the child's group became sick, officials said.

No other information about the child was released.

"Cases of plague in California are very rare," said Vicki Kramer, chief of the vector-borne disease section of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). "Every year, however, we do detect animals with plague in California, particularly at higher elevations. We've found it in 49 [of California's 58] counties."

Plague is an infectious bacterial disease carried by squirrels, chipmunks and other wild rodents as well as their fleas. The fleas "prefer to live on rodents," Kramer said, so generally don't pose a threat to people.

"It's only when the rodents die that they may seek an alternative host, such as a person," she said. But a person would need to come into very close contact with the rodent to become infected.

To avoid this close contact, keep your distance from wildlife.

Dr. Danielle Buttke is with the U.S. Public Health Service and is currently in Yosemite investigating the outbreak, along with CDPH and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials.

"Never touch or feed wildlife," she said. "Don't try to approach them, give them their space." In particular, steer clear of animals acting strangely, because it is more likely that the animal is sick.

Other protective measures that CDPH recommends include:

• Never touch sick or dead rodents
• Avoid walking, hiking or camping near rodent burrows
• Wear long pants tucked into socks or boot tops to reduce exposure to fleas
• Spray insect repellent containing DEET on socks and pant cuffs to reduce exposure to fleas
• Keep wild rodents out of homes, trailers, and outbuildings and away from pets

The initial symptoms of plague include high fever, chills, nausea, weakness and swollen glands. Plague is treatable in the early stages with prompt administration of antibiotics.

The CDPH says there have been no known cases of human-to-human infection in California since 1924. The last human case of plague in the state was in 2006.

Sasha Khokha and Kerry Klein contributed to this report.