SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) -- Health officials have confirmed a case of plague at South Lake Tahoe -- the first in California in five years.
El Dorado County officials said Monday the California Department of Public Health notified them of the positive test of a local resident who is under medical care while recovering at home.
Plague bacteria are most often transmitted by fleas that have acquired it from infected squirrels, chipmunks and other wild rodents.
Health officials believe the South Tahoe resident may have been bitten by an infected flea while walking a dog along the Truckee River corridor or in the Tahoe Keys area on Tahoe's south shore.
