Black Death: Grand Canyon Biologist Killed By Pneumonic Plague After Mountain Lion Encounter

The death of a Grand Canyon National Park biologist is being attributed to a very rare case of pneumonic plague.  The biologist, Eric York, came down with the plague after conducting an autopsy on a mountain lion carcass that he had tracked and tagged previously.  The pneumonic plague can be spread through simple coughing and sneezing and is an extremely contagious lung disease.  The Black Plague killed hundreds of thousands of people in Europe during the middle ages.

Pneumonic plague is known to originate from infected fleas.  When Eric York cut in to the body of the diseased animal, it is thought that an infected air pocket may have been cut open releasing the the air.  Eric York then breathed it in.

The news of this situation is now being released even though it happened almost one year ago to the day.  National Park Service rangers and biologists, along with personel from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention and the Arizona Department of Health, have converged, studied, and evaluated this situation and think that it was an isolated case.  In previous cases of the plague, something that would trigger the signs of an epidemic were dead rodents.  The plague infected fleas will jump to rodents, bite them, then infect them and whatever eats them.  Once infected, the rodent or animal usually dies in a matter of hours to days.  As had happened in Europe, once the rodents and mammals have died off, the infected fleas look for another outlet of nourishment–humans.

Luckily, Eric York’s situation did not involve the complete line of events mentioned above.  After Eric had contracted the plague, he was in contact with only 40 people before his death.  Each of those people have been evaluated and studied, without any ill effects showing up.  The National Park Service is very confident that this situation has been fully contained, yet scientists and biologists are still studying the neighboring wildlife, rodent, and flea popluations to ensure that this doesn’t get any bigger than the death of Eric York.

This could be looked upon as a ‘wake-up’ call to the NPS and others involved and around outdoor wildlife.  Many people believe that our next epidemic will come from a disease transmitted through animals, then spread to humans.  If you are out and about and come across a dead animal–unless you have killed it yourself, and know 100% that it was a healthy animal, I would suggest hat you leave it alone.  Even the most knowledgable of people (Eric York was an animal biologist specifically specialized in big cats) can get into trouble and forget to take precautions.  Some people have suggested that a simple doctor’s mask could have saved Eric’s life.