Campground Closed Due to Plague Fears

Authorities have closed Wheeler Gorge Campground in Los Padres National Forest near Ojai for the second successive year after finding rodents infected with bubonic plague.

“We will be doing flea control in the campground starting [today] and then we’ll be checking it in about a week to see what’s going on,” said Randy Smith, a county environmental health specialist. “Then we’ll see whether it’s safe to reopen it.”

Pesticide dust to kill the fleas that infect ground squirrels, chipmunks and other rodents with the potentially fatal disease will be placed into burrows and near bait traps, he said.

Rodents will not be killed at the popular 73-campsite location on California 33.

“You’re not going to rid the entire forest of animals,” Smith said.

“What we try to do is lessen the potential for contact between animals and humans and animal fleas.”

Bubonic plague--the infamous disease that killed millions of people in Europe from the 14th century through the Middle Ages--is not uncommon in the county, Smith said.

The plague is usually found to be present in several locales each year.

In the past 22 years, at least two county residents have died--the last in 1984--after contracting the disease, Smith said.

Both lived in rural areas.

“People in that area need to take precautions,” he said, adding that animals outside campgrounds may also carry the plague.

The disease produces flu-like symptoms of high fever, muscle aches, nausea and swollen, painful lymph glands.

It can be treated with antibiotics.

The county Environmental Health Division has activated a hotline for more information at 654-2432.

In general, people should avoid wild rodents and protect pets with flea powder or by leaving them at home when entering wilderness areas.

People who fall ill within a week of being in an area where plague has been detected should contact a doctor immediately.