The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) is investigating an outbreak involving several cases of flea-borne typhus in downtown Los Angeles and is working with the city of Los Angeles to implement environmental safety measures to reduce the spread of the disease.
Flea-borne typhus is a disease that infected fleas can spread to humans. Bacteria (Rickettsia typhi and R. felis) found in infected fleas, and their feces, cause typhus. Fleas can come from many types of animals including cats, rats, and opossums. Although pets and animals do not get sick from typhus, typhus can cause high fever, chills, headache, and rash in people and can be treated with antibiotics. Places where there is an accumulation of trash that attract wild animals like feral cats, rats and opossums that may carry an infected flea may increase the risk of exposure. Typhus is not transmitted person-by-person.
“Although typhus normally occurs throughout LA County, we are observing several cases in the downtown Los Angeles area,” said Muntu Davis, MD, MPH, Los Angeles County Health Officer. “We encourage pet owners to practice safe flea control and encourage all cities in the county to ensure maintenance of their trash clean-up and rodent control activities.”
To help prevent typhus:
– Practice safe flea control
– Use flea control products on your pets.
– When outside, wear pants tucked into socks or boots. Spray insect repellent with DEET on socks and pant cuffs.
– Avoid being near wild or stray animals
– Never feed or touch wild animals, especially opossums, rats, stray, or feral cats.
– Store your trash in cans with secure lids to avoid attracting animals.
– Get rid of places where rats and stray animals sleep, hide, or find food, like crawl spaces, attics, or under decks. Protect yourself by wearing gloves and a mask when cleaning these areas. Wash your hands when you’re finished.
Public Health is partnering with the City of Los Angeles and community partners to continue surveillance activities, to interview and treat those affected and to reduce the environmental risk for this disease. For rodent complaints in the City of Los Angeles, call 3-1-1. For other cities, call LA County 2-1-1.
COMMENT POLICY: We welcome comments from individuals and businesses. All comments are moderated. Comments are subject to rejection if they are vulgar, combative, or in poor taste.
REAL NAMES ONLY: All posters must use their real individual or business name. This applies equally to Twitter account holders who use a nickname.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health continues cautioning residents who are planning to visit several Los Angeles County beaches, including beaches near Hyperion, to be careful of swimming, surfing, and playing in ocean waters around discharging storm drains, creeks, and rivers.
Los Angeles County is holding a free, drive-thru Household Hazardous Waste & E-Waste Recycling Collection on Saturday, July 31, from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m., at the Via Princessa Metrolink Station.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Thursday 17 new deaths, including one in the Santa Clarita Valley and 3,248 new cases of COVID-19 countywide, with 29,772 total cases in the Santa Clarita Valley.
The Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture (Arts and Culture) has announced Leticia Rhi Buckley has joined its Arts Commission, L.A. County’s longstanding advisory body for the arts.
Local nonprofit Fostering Youth Independence (FYI) held its fifth annual Back to School Bash, where students received backpacks and school supplies for the upcoming semester, and for the first time also featured a career fair featuring eleven speakers from the FYI community who explained their jobs and career qualifications.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health continues cautioning residents who are planning to visit several Los Angeles County beaches, including beaches near Hyperion, to be careful of swimming, surfing, and playing in ocean waters around discharging storm drains, creeks, and rivers.
Los Angeles County is holding a free, drive-thru Household Hazardous Waste & E-Waste Recycling Collection on Saturday, July 31, from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m., at the Via Princessa Metrolink Station.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Thursday 17 new deaths, including one in the Santa Clarita Valley and 3,248 new cases of COVID-19 countywide, with 29,772 total cases in the Santa Clarita Valley.
With the reinstatement of in-person instruction this Fall, the Outlets at Tejon is excited to help students, teachers, and parents with all their back-to-school shopping.
The Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture (Arts and Culture) has announced Leticia Rhi Buckley has joined its Arts Commission, L.A. County’s longstanding advisory body for the arts.
Yair Haimoff, SIOR, and Andrew Ghassemi of Spectrum Commercial Real Estate, are pleased to have represented the seller in the recent sale of this ±4,828-square-foot office/flex condo in a prime Valencia location.
As the Santa Clarita Public Library takes a programming break to prepare for Fall programming in September, residents are reminded to take advantage of the wide variety of services and online resources available.
The Los Angeles County Health Officer has extended a Heat Alert as high temperatures have been forecast for the Santa Clarita Valley through Sunday, Aug. 1.
Following a year of cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Santa Clarita’s wildly popular SENSES block parties will make their triumphant return to Main Street in Old Town Newhall.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is cautioning residents who are planning to visit several Los Angeles County beaches near Dockweiler and El Segundo to be careful of swimming, surfing, and playing in ocean waters around discharging storm drains, creeks, and rivers.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Wednesday 15 new deaths and 2,454 new cases of COVID-19 countywide, with 29,668 total cases in the Santa Clarita Valley.
The city of Santa Clarita is looking for public feedback on a public safety grant proposal for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program.
The California Department of Public Health has updated their guidance for face coverings statewide, aligning it with the mandates that L.A. County and the CDC calling for the public to wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a substitute motion authored by Kathryn Barger and Hilda L. Solis, in response to the proposed motion by Holly Mitchell and Shelia Kuehl that would move forward with the placement of youth realigned from the Department of Juvenile Justice and the L.A. County Probation system, specifically at Camps Scott and Scudder in Santa Clarita.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion by Supervisor Kathryn Barger and coauthored by Supervisor Hilda L. Solis to create a Blue Ribbon Commission on Homelessness to assess existing structures and systems and provide recommendations on reforms that will help Los Angeles County and its 88 cities solve homelessness.
The inaugural Cars Under the Stars car show brought together families and car enthusiasts Saturday night to raise funds for the WiSH Education Foundation.
Tweet This
Facebook
Digg This
Bookmark
Stumble
RSS
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) is investigating an outbreak involving several cases of flea-borne typhus in downtown Los Angeles and is working with the city of Los Angeles to implement environmental safety measures to reduce the spread of the disease.
REAL NAMES ONLY: All posters must use their real individual or business name. This applies equally to Twitter account holders who use a nickname.
0 Comments
You can be the first one to leave a comment.