Diseases once linked to the squalor of medieval living are back with a vengeance in California and other states with experts linking the diseases’ rise to an increase in the homeless population.
“In major cities in the U.S., we hear about increasing numbers of encampments and people living in squalor,” said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, a professor at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, according to the Los Angeles Times.“Those conditions are ideal for increase in vermin like rats.”
Fleas on rats are key to the spread of typhus. A typhus outbreak recently led to the closing of City Hall in Los Angeles amid concerns of rats in the building, the Atlantic reported.
“With increased rat density, diseases like typhus are very likely to occur,” said Dr. Lee W. Riley, an infectious disease researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.
Typhus cases in Los Angeles have risen from 13 in 2008 to 167 from January 1, 2018, through February 1, 2019. Meanwhile, as reported by The Western Journal, homelessness has also bee on the rise.
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