A significant die-off of prairie dogs in the area motivated Coconino County officials to take action. They took samples of fleas found Picture Canyon northeast of Flagstaff, where the animals were dying, according to the Arizona Daily Sun.
The County Public Health Services District is conducting additional testing and spraying insecticide in prairie dog burrows, the Sun reported. Meanwhile officials are urging residents to proceed with caution, to use insect repellent and to avoid handling sick or dead animals.
The Bubonic plague decimated Europe's population, taking an estimated 75 million to 200 million lives. It is caused by Yersinia Pestis, an enzootic disease typically found in rodents and fleas. After one is bitten by a flea, the disease localizes itself in the lymph nodes and propagates.
Though modern medicine can fight the plague, if left untreated it can cause death as quickly as four days after contraction.
Plague-infected fleas were last detected in Arizona’s Coconino County in September 2014.
