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May 16, 2006

Abracadabra¹. Or just use pesticides.

I say, then, that such was the energy of the contagion of the said pestilence, that it was not merely propagated from man to man but, what is much more startling, it was frequently observed, that things which had belonged to one sick or dead of the disease, if touched by some other living creature, not of the human species, were the occasion, not merely of sickening, but of an almost instantaneous death.

The Decameron, Boccaccio, c.1348

Having read some histories and accounts of the black death, the bubonic plague that reduced Europe's population by (an estimated) one-third in the 14th century, I'm always curious to read more when I see it in the news. In Utah this time.

Utah Campground Closed Because of Plague

A campground at Natural Bridges National Monument has been closed because of bubonic plague detected among field mice and chipmunks.

Plague also has been found this spring in rodent populations at Mesa Verde National Park and Colorado National Monument.
...
"We come down on the conservative side when it comes to closing campgrounds," said Joe Winkelmaier of the U.S. Public Health Service. "We just like to be sure when it comes to plague."

Which certainly gets my vote for understatement of the week. Good to know they take Pestis bubonica seriously.

It did bring to mind a story from last year, where three lab mice, infected with the plague were stolen and one from a few weeks back, where a woman in Los Angeles was hospitalized with it.

Reading up on the CDC site reveals that the plague has a happy home in the wilds, with 10-15 human casts per year 'Most ... occur in two regions: 1) northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, and southern Colorado; and 2) California, southern Oregon, and far western Nevada.'

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1. Abracadabra was an incantation intended to cure fevers and inflammations, and employed in the 16th Century to ward off the plague. It didn't work.

Scrawled illegibly by Meathe at May 16, 2006 11:56 AM

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