Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room Georgia Tourist Diagnosed w/ Plague After Visiting Yosemite

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/second-...id=ansmsnnews11

I sure hope the tourist is not Gary Hicks or his family members. I cannot remember the dates when Gary was in Yosemite. I love Yosemite. Should I not visit the park until this issue with the plague is under control? I sure hate that Yosemite has been hit with news in the media that discourages tourists from visiting.

Yosemite is a very large place and a LOT of people visit it each year.

That two people have been exposed is worrisome, but hardly worth panicking about.

For years I've been reading about squirrels occasionally testing positive for plague in campgrounds in the Sierra and in SoCal. I feel like I read a story every year about a squirrel or squirrels coming up positive at Palomar Mountain in San Diego County. My son told me there was a recent case in Idaho, if I recall correctly. The CDC says there are about seven cases annually in the US. Considering it's out there and so are a lot of people camping and recreating, I'm actually kind of surprised that there aren't more human infections. Fortunately, it's quite treatable with antibiotics if caught in time. But as an emergency nurse, I can tell you that it's not exactly on our radar when we see patients with flu-like symptoms, as the signs and symptoms of plague present early on. I wouldn't let it stop me from going anywhere (despite some uneasiness), but it would certainly be prudent to take some precautions such as using insect repellent around the ankles to discourage fleas. (You pick up the infection through a bite from a flea that's a carrier. Or a squirrel, but if you let the squirrel get that close, you deserve it.)

There was a recent positive test for hantavirus in SD County. (Sleeping without a tent in a Northern California wilderness area years ago and being awakened several times during the night by mice running over my sleeping bag, I still shudder inside when I think about that.) My front door is yards away from the San Diego River bed (such as it is), which is a potential habitat for West Nile virus. There's Ebola, at least in Africa. And now chikungunya is in the U.S. (Look it up.) If we obsessed over every possible threat out there, we might not leave the house these days without full isolation suits! But statistically, the most dangerous part of going camping is driving there.

In someways this is totally scary. However, it doesn't really surprise me that Yosemite keeps getting these disease outbreaks.

Last year Yosemite saw 6 million visitors (The populations of LA and San Diego combined). It is the second busiest NP (after Yellowstone, I believe). It is also a very small place and as such a geographic bottleneck.

There was also a Hanta outbreak a couple of years back in Yosemite.



Looking at this map there is the greatest concentration in the Four Corners area with assorted out breaks around the West. Hanta is also concentrated in the FC region.

My thought is that both the FC areas and Yosemite are highly visited natural recreation areas, and often people will take long vacations visiting multiple wilderness areas. With tourists traveling from specific natural area to specific natural area it doesn't surprise me that these diseases show up in these concentrated areas.

Still, if you use a tent, keep a clean site, and don't touch the rodents you shouldn't have too much trouble.

I was just in Yosemite this week, even on a Monday the people speaking various languages rivaled the English speaking visitors in numbers. In that regard it was pretty cool to see that many people of such diversity enjoying the Valley, however there is a dark side to the park crowds...

I also witnessed a couple of people (who were either oblivious, stupid, or couldn't read English) feeding squirrels sitting beneath a big full-color sign pleading visitors not to feed the animals (with a picture of the same species of ground squirrel they were feeding).

Natural selection?

BTW Last I saw on FB, Gary was visiting Savannah, fit as a fiddle

Nope, Lynn, not us. Appreciate the concern, though. We've done a lot of dayhiking in Yosemite over the years but rarely camp there. The plague and hantavirus threats generally go with campgrounds. Comfy condos at 8K' in Mammoth are too enticing . . .

Josh, let's just say I arrived in Savannah fit as a fiddle. Two nights of company-sponsored pub crawls changed that just a tad. That was a looooong drive back to the ATL, and an even tougher hike the next day. I think I sweated out a dozen different micro-brew flavors.

After reading everyone's responses I feel confident that I should not stop visiting Yosemite Valley. Gary, I'm happy to hear you and your family returned to Georgia healthy and happy and I have to tell you I think you have an awesome job/employer and excellent benefits. I would love to be able to stay in 5-Star hotels like you do. You will never get the plague or anti-virus in your employer's hotels.