Typhus Strikes the Homeless

In America, half a million people live on the streets or camp out in shelters. This number is the first increase we've had in seven years. The homeless face many challenges including poor health and one in particular is typhus. In Pasadena and Long Beach California, there's now an outbreak of this bacterial disease.

Murine Typhus is also called endemic typhus because it's in the community year round. Yet normally few people actually contract it. The bacterium, Rickettsia typhi is responsible and spreads through infected fleas that live mainly on rats. The fleas also feed on other mammals such as opossums, raccoons and domesticated animals such as cats. Infected fleas defecate when they bite their victims, allowing the bacteria, which are in the feces, to enter the host through the bite wound or from scratching the wound. This is also how people can become infected. The feces can also enter through the respiratory tract and the front of the eye.

Pasadena has had twenty cases of typhus as of October twenty-eighteen; that's four times the usual annual cases. Long Beach has double its expected cases while the rest of Los Angeles County had reported a total of seventy-two.

Some blame the homeless population which has risen nearly fifty percent since two thousand twelve. They live in deplorable conditions.

In Pasadena, an affluent area, the typhus cases may be due to pets coming into contact with wild animals living in nearby canyons. The city has asked people to not leave out food and water for wild animals and to keep trash covered. For both cities, they key is to develop a response, even if the problem is as tough as homelessness.