Safety First, Adventure Always

While it's unlikely, visitors to Yosemite may be exposed to vector-borne diseases. Wildlife in the park can transmit illnesses like plague, rabies, and hantavirus. Keeping your distance from animals and storing food properly protects both you and the wildlife from harm and potential disease.

Here are some general tips to reduce your risk:

• Avoid contact with wildlife and keep food and trash stored properly.
• Avoid contact with mosquitoes and ticks.
• Avoid touching live or dead rodents, do not touch rodent nests or dens.
• Use an effective insect repellent.
• Find and remove ticks from your body, clothing, backpacks, children, and pets. Soon after going indoors, bathe or shower, then conduct a full-body tick check using a mirror.
• Avoid sleeping in rodent-infested areas or near animal burrows.
• If you see evidence of rodent activity in your room or other facility, contact park staff (don't clean it up yourself).

Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) is a severe, sometimes fatal, respiratory disease in humans caused by contact with the urine, droppings, or saliva of infected rodents.

• Keep food sealed tightly and secure.
• If staying in tent cabins, avoid sleeping directly on the ground, use a cot or other sleeping surface that is at least 12 inches above ground.
• Discard all trash in accordance with area regulations.
• If you see evidence of rodent activity in your room or other facility, contact park staff (don't clean it up yourself).

The California Department of Public Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention websites contain important information that can help you recognize and reduce your risk of contracting Hantavirus.

Tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF) is a rare but serious illness caused by bacteria carried by soft ticks. TBRF typically causes flu-like symptoms that disappear quickly after a few days. This is followed by a return (or relapse) of symptoms a few days later.

Plague is a highly infectious bacterial disease primarily affecting rodents. Humans and other animals can get plague if they come into contact with wild animals naturally infected or carrying the disease.

People get Lyme disease when a tick infected with the Lyme disease bacterium attaches and feeds on them. If you are bitten by a tick, and later experience flu-like symptoms, contact your doctor and mention you had a tick bite.

Rabies is a viral disease that affects the central nervous system. The virus is usually passed to humans via the bite of a rabid animal. If you encounter a mammal, particularly a raccoon, skunk, fox, coyote, or bat, behaving erratically, don't touch the animal. Instead, report the animal to a park employee.

The California Department of Public Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention websites contain important information that can help you recognize and reduce your risk of contracting Hantavirus.

Yosemite Medical Clinic offers care for visitors. For emergencies, dial 911 just as you would anywhere else to ensure prompt assistance.

Yosemite's Search & Rescue Team works tirelessly to protect visitors. Learn from their Preventive Search and Rescue blog to avoid dangerous situations and ensure a safe visit.