typhoid in Los Angeles

....

the NewAmerican has an article on the trash problem in Los Angeles.

Typhus is a disease born of filth, most commonly spread by contact with the feces of fleas. It is most often reported in the third world or places such as POW camps where hygiene is of little concern. Last year, Los Angeles County reported a record 124 confirmed cases of the disease, enough to be classified as a full-blown outbreak. So far, in 2019, more than 50 cases have been reported. The reason? Fleas are attracted to rats and rats are attracted to huge piles of food-waste infused garbage, like the ones that currently litter vast portions of downtown Los Angeles. 

he overburdened sanitation department does the best it can, but it simply doesn’t have the manpower necessary to keep up with the gigantic piles of filth that spring up quickly and are left to grow and rot for months at a time. A spokesperson for the city’s Department of Public Works reports that the current backlog for trash pickups around the city’s homeless encampments stands at approximately 8,400, with an average of six calls per site.

the Atlantic article (March) about the problem in Los Angeles among the homeless.

Los Angeles recently experienced an outbreak of typhus—a disease spread by infected fleas on rats and other animals—in downtown streets. Officials briefly closed part of City Hall after reporting that rodents had invaded the building. People in Washington State have been infected with Shigella bacteria, which is spread through feces and causes the diarrheal disease shigellosis, as well as Bartonella quintana, or trench fever, which spreads through body lice.*

Hepatitis A, also spread primarily through feces, infected more than 1,000 people in Southern California in the past two years. The disease also has erupted in New Mexico, Ohio, and Kentucky, primarily among people who are homeless or use drugs.

Public-health officials and politicians are using terms like disaster and public-health crisis to describe the outbreaks, and they are warning that these diseases can easily jump beyond the homeless population. “Our homeless crisis is increasingly becoming a public-health crisis,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said in his State of the State speech in February, citing outbreaks of hepatitis A in San Diego County, syphilis in Sonoma County, and typhus in Los Angeles County. “Typhus,” he said. “A medieval disease. In California. In 2019.”.....

. Bubonic plague could be next.

NPR article from August 2018. So it means it's not a new problem.

Medical journal Article about the Hepatitis outbreak in SanDiego that started in 2016.

The hepatitis A outbreak affected 588 individuals. An epidemiologic and morphologic review of the cases with a focus on the UCSD patients was performed. No common sources of food, beverage or drugs have been identified that have contributed to this outbreak. Mode of distribution is likely direct person to person transmission. The health department initiated an extensive public vaccination and education campaign, distributed hygiene kits, deployed portable bathroom and hand washing and declared a local public health emergency. Due to the extensive public health campaign, the outbreak seems to be under control as of January 2018.

the epidemic started in 2016, but the WAPO finally noticed it in 2017, explaining how "power spraying" with bleach and other basic public health hygiene methods were being used to control the disease.

Actually the hepatitis epidemics was the harbinger of these plagues, and it is due to neglect by local governments. And that epidemic was noted as a problem a couple years ago. (2016-2018), meaning it can't be blamed on Trumpie boy, but wait and they will manage to politicize the problem.

Ah, but their priorities are in place: They banned Plastic straws.

cross posted to my regular blog.