For years I've been reading about squirrels occasionally testing positive for plague in campgrounds in the Sierra and in SoCal. I feel like I read a story every year about a squirrel or squirrels coming up positive at Palomar Mountain in San Diego County. My son told me there was a recent case in Idaho, if I recall correctly. The CDC says there are about seven cases annually in the US. Considering it's out there and so are a lot of people camping and recreating, I'm actually kind of surprised that there aren't more human infections. Fortunately, it's quite treatable with antibiotics if caught in time. But as an emergency nurse, I can tell you that it's not exactly on our radar when we see patients with flu-like symptoms, as the signs and symptoms of plague present early on. I wouldn't let it stop me from going anywhere (despite some uneasiness), but it would certainly be prudent to take some precautions such as using insect repellent around the ankles to discourage fleas. (You pick up the infection through a bite from a flea that's a carrier. Or a squirrel, but if you let the squirrel get that close, you deserve it.)
There was a recent positive test for hantavirus in SD County. (Sleeping without a tent in a Northern California wilderness area years ago and being awakened several times during the night by mice running over my sleeping bag, I still shudder inside when I think about that.) My front door is yards away from the San Diego River bed (such as it is), which is a potential habitat for West Nile virus. There's Ebola, at least in Africa. And now chikungunya is in the U.S. (Look it up.) If we obsessed over every possible threat out there, we might not leave the house these days without full isolation suits! But statistically, the most dangerous part of going camping is driving there.
