FLAGSTAFF, Arizona — Fleas in Arizona test positive for the black plague, also known as black death, Officials said Thursday.
The fleas that tested positive came from prairie dog burrows on a hiking trail, Coconino County Public Health Services District officials said in a release.
The plague, or Yersinia pestis, is the same disease that devastated Europe in the 17th century. It is also known as the Black Death.
Coconino Public Health officials urge visitors to avoid the burrows. Dogs are required by law to be on a leash.
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people and peaking in Europe in the years 1346–53.
Although there were several competing theories as to the etiology of the Black Death, analysis of DNA from victims in northern and southern Europe published in 2010 and 2011 indicates that the pathogen responsible was the Yersinia pestis bacterium, probably causing several forms ofplague.
