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By Nicole Nielsen
Arizona Daily Wildcat
August 23, 1996
Travelers heading out to northern and eastern Arizona should take precautions to avoid exposure to a bacteria that causes a plague.The Arizona Department of Health Services has issued a plague advisory following the death of an 18-year-old man in Coconino County.
The man died from the plague this month, said Craig Davis, a spokesman for ADHS. How the man received the disease is still under investigation, Davis said.
He said it is the first plague incident of the year and the only one resulting in death since 1992.
Craig Levy, of the ADHS Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Disease Department, said, "In this day and age, cases tend to be sporadic."
He said the conditions that caused the plague to be a major outbreak in the Middle Ages do not exist today.
Plague is usually found in rodents, rabbits and coyotes.
It can be transmitted to humans through flea bites or direct contact with infected tissue, which can occur while handling game animals.
Davis said the advisory may be in effect until winter.
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