A campground in California's Yosemite National Park has been closed for several days while the authorities deal with an outbreak of plague in the local squirrel population.

In what is being described by the National Park Service as an 'extremely precautionary public health measure', flea treatment will be applied to rodent burrows in Tuolumne Meadows Campground after several dead animals were tested and found to be carrying plague.

This follows a recent case of the disease in a child who was hospitalized after visiting the nearby Stanislaus National Forest and camping at Crane Flat Campground in Yosemite National Park in mid-July. He is said to be recovering.

To put it into perspective, before this the last case of plague associated with exposure in Yosemite National Park was back in 1959.

Toulumne Meadows Campground is closed from mid day 17th August until 21st August.