At least two and possibly three prairie-dog colonies have been wiped out by the bubonic plague on Schriever Air Force Base, about 10 miles east of Colorado Springs.
No human cases have been reported.
Air Force personnel along with officials from the El Paso County Health Department confirmed Tuesday that two of five colonies are infected. Base spokesman Ed Parsons said a third colony is suspected to contain the plague. A fourth colony was cleared, and a fifth colony was not tested because of its remote location, Parsons said.
“We’ve not had a die-off like this before,” Parsons said today, noting that most of the prairie dogs in the two infected colonies have died. “We don’t know the numbers, but it takes out most of the populations.”
Parsons said the base suspected a problem when the prairie-dog population started to decline. “It was pretty obvious that we had lost a lot of prairie dogs.”
Health officials tested the colonies last week and confirmed that the plague had been found.
“It’s a large die-off of critters, but we have no human cases yet, and we want to keep it that way,” said Rick Miklich, director of environmental health for the El Paso County Health Department.
“We went out there and harvested a large amount of fleas that are looking for some place to go. We found the plague in them.
“It’s the fleas we’re worried about not the prairie dogs, which are just a host. The infected fleas can move to other hosts, like dogs, cats and people.”
Miklich said bubonic-plague germs are endemic to the West, to Colorado and to El Paso County.
“The plague is here all the time. It can remain dormant or flare up into an outbreak. What causes that we don’t know. What we worry about are the fleas moving.
“This is a large outbreak. But it’s not the first time it’s happened. Off the top of my head, the last outbreak this large was several years ago,” he said.
Parsons said the Air Force has closed off the infected areas, advising personnel how to avoid dead prairie dogs and what to do if they develop flu-like symptoms. The colonies are somewhat remote from base personnel but one is near a path frequented by joggers, he said.
The colonies are being dusted with insecticide to kill the fleas.
Miklich cautioned residents to avoid prairie-dog colonies at least for the rest of the summer and not to let their pets run loose near the colonies.
Schriever Air Force Base occupies 7 square miles east of Colorado Springs. It has about 6,900 military and civilian personnel working there, primarily operating military satellites, Parsons said.
Staff writer Mike McPhee can be reached at 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com.
