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On Monday, there were 57 cases of typhus fleas in Los Angeles County, the County Public Health Department said.
On Thursday, the ministry said officials were investigating a flea-borne typhus outbreak in downtown Los Angeles and working with the city to implement environmental safety measures to reduce the spread of the disease.
Between July and September, the county identified nine cases of typhus mellitus associated with downtown Los Angeles, and six of these cases involved homeless people, according to the county.
"Although typhus occurs normally in Los Angeles County, we are seeing several cases in downtown Los Angeles," said Dr. Muntu Davis, county health officer.
"We encourage pet owners to practice flea control safely and encourage all towns in the county to maintain their garbage and rodent control activities," he said. .
Friday, a county town – Pasadena – has reported epidemic levels of epidemic typhus. This year, typhus was confirmed in 20 residents of Pasadena, compared to one to five cases per year, according to the Pasadena Public Health Department.
"Typhus fever is a disease that can lead to serious complications requiring long hospitalization and, rarely, death," said Dr. Ying-Ying Goh, health officer in Pasadena, in his announcement Friday.
She encouraged all residents to take precautions to prevent fleas in and around their homes.
These precautions include keeping yards free of debris and pruning overgrown vegetation, not leaving pet food out, not providing food or water. Wild animals, keeping garbage cans well covered, sealing crawl spaces under the house and systematically treating pets with flea medications.
"Since the disease is transmitted by fleas, it is possible that endemic typhus can be transmitted all year round.It is currently difficult to speculate on why we are seeing more cases. Los Angeles County Public Health is currently conducting a health survey that seeks to answer this question, "said Anne Rimoin, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of California at the Fielding School of Public Health's Los Angeles.
As to whether the typhus epidemic could spread further, she said, "a thorough public health survey will determine whether we should expect an increase in cases elsewhere".
Flea-borne typhus can be transmitted to humans from bacteria in infected fleas and their faeces. Symptoms can appear within two weeks of contact with the infected flea and can include high fever, chills, headaches, body aches and rashes, according to Los Angeles County.
"Flea-borne typhus is naturally present in Los Angeles County and is caused by two bacteria, Rickettsia typhi and R. felis," Rimoin said. "People can do several things to prevent typhus transmitted by fleas.The most important preventative measure is to minimize flea exposure.C pets, yards and houses must be free of fleas."
Deaths are rare, in less than 1% of cases, and the disease can be treated with antibiotics, according to the county.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mosquito-borne diseases, mosquitoes and fleas that feed the blood constitute a "growing public health problem".
A CDC report released in May found that reported cases of these vector-borne diseases more than tripled in the country between 2004 and 2016.
Although rare, plague was the most common flea-borne disease included in these data.
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