Plague Warning Issued
In Southern Colorado

DURANGO, COLO. — The San Juan Basin Health Department posted a bubonic plague warning this month for La Plata and Archuleta Counties in southern Colorado.

Fleas from prairie dog burrows on Florida Mesa, east of Durango, tested positive for plague, according to Pat Shepherd, the department's environmental health director.

Plague was confirmed earlier this month among domestic cats in the area. No human cases have been reported.

"Prairie dog colony die-offs are an indicator of possible plague in an area," Shepherd says.

Kevin Mallow, La Plata County agent, says he receives 10 to 12 phone calls a year from farmers and ranchers reporting prairie dog die-offs in the area. Mallow says there are plenty of prairie dogs in the two-county region that could harbor the infection.

An Archuleta County woman contracted plague in June 1998, but survived. A woman near Canon City also contracted the disease in early June this year. She also lived.

An elderly Larimer County woman in northern Colorado died in late May from the plague.

Two cases were reported in the late spring this year, prompting Colorado's Department of Public Health and Environment to issue a plague warning in June for rural areas of the state.

The state predicted a bad year for plague because of a mild winter and increased rodent populations.

Plague-carrying rodents include prairie dogs, wood rats, chipmunks and rock and ground squirrels.