First Hep A, Now LA Has Typhus

Having read through the article, and the postings, there are a few things that can be stated:

When an epidemic hits a large city, it should be a wake up call for all. The proverbial canary in the mine. What should be something to consider and pause, and look at is mocked?

The reality is that this was caused by 2 things: Fleas and pests that bite humans, carrying a disease that is now affecting the population. And like any large city, or urban center, where one has homeless, there is a good chance that it can either spread to other parts of the country, or happen in other areas. This is not a time to be complacent, or comment on an area's political affiliation or make fun, but to watch and see if compassion can be given.

The US has had several dangerous epidemics run through it, do we need on that could outbreak and move through the entire country?

a reply to: ketsuko

The mental picture of LA that comes to mind is sort of a composite of Mogadishu and Rio de Janeiro.

I'm waiting for the CDC to close LA.

a reply to: sdcigarpig

The US has had several dangerous epidemics run through it, do we need on that could outbreak and move through the entire country?

Absolutely do not need that scenario to happen!

Sometimes the most compassionate answer is the one that alleviates suffering the fastest.

NUKE LA!

a reply to: sdcigarpig

And this is the danger.

I said back when the ebola outbreak was hot and heavy in Africa that we had little to nothing to worry about in the US because of our general standards of public hygiene. I said that about the only way this would be a problem is if it got into the homeless population.

Now, imagine that this disease got into the homeless population of California with its drug users? I am guessing they tend to share needles. Think about one infected person sharing a needle. This is the functional equivalent of the funeral rituals that caused to much spreading of the virus in Africa; only here you'd have apparently healthy individuals spreading it before they felt really ill.

The problem here is the failure of the political system to really have a will to tackle the problem and the failure of the populace to likewise move to tackle the problem.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: crayzeed
But I thought no one in the world were more compassionate than California leftists, so why is this a problem out there?
Are you saying they don't have enough of other people's money to pay for this problem with?

Actually, the most compassionate people in California are the low-income immigrants, mostly Mexican. They have strong families, would rather work than beg for money on a freeway offramp, and believe in Christian charity and will help if they can.

originally posted by: ketsuko
LA has typhus!

Remember how LA and San Diego fought with Hep A all summer? How they have a new problem - typhus. Now, typhus is endemic to the area, and it's carried by fleas. LA County expects to see between one and five cases every year, but Pasadena at 20 cases is at epidemic levels and downtown LA reported nine cases.

As of Monday, there have been 57 cases of flea-borne typhus in Los Angeles County, the county Department of Public Health said.
On Thursday, the department announced that officials are investigating an outbreak of flea-borne typhus in downtown Los Angeles, and they are working with the city to implement environmental safety measures to help reduce the spread of the disease.
Between July and September, the county identified nine cases of flea-borne typhus associated with downtown Los Angeles, and six of those cases were in people experiencing homelessness, according to the county.

So again, Cali has a problem.

Typhus is something you read about in Victorian novels right along with Yellow Fever.

Now the good news is that it's rarely fatal and easily treatable with modern medicine and also highly controllable with modern hygiene, but because of that, it shouldn't be a problem either.

Apologies if this has already been said....but....it IS California, after all. There are a lot of dirty people in LA.

originally posted by: sooth
Great, I suppose more of these Californian whackadoodles will be fleeing to the neighboring states and bringing their big bag of bad news with them. People are under the misconception that we have a problem on the border with Mexico, when in actuality what we all have is a California problem. They're like a zombie plague that has completely taken over my hometown in Portland, Oregon.

Northwest leftists used to be so chill and cordial. Then the California plague hit and suddenly it was like Night of the Leftist Dead.

Bless your heart for sticking around. I couldn't do it.

originally posted by: BlueJacket
a reply to: sooth

I agree, California and New York... these maroons that couldnt make the paper to wipe their own asses, just raise taxes, move and raise taxes...mortgages and rent, then leave for another place...we should put all their dumb asses and movies, tv etc..on an Island somwhere.

We can call it...... Gillibrand's Island...

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: NarcolepticBuddha
I'm not even being facetious, but when was your last visit to any large Californian city?

I was in San Fran, San Jose and Sacramento last week.

If you didn't notice the issue, I have some bad news.

originally posted by: LSU2018
If you didn't notice the issue, I have some bad news.

What's that, Mr. Louisiana?

Welcome back, by the way.

a reply to: ketsuko

I would say that the problem is that the US is not ready to deal with a serious outbreak of any kind, and that many are complacent, in various areas. Medical is one that is usually behind, though they try to be ahead, but often are either inadequately trained or supplied to deal with such. People will fear and run, even those who are carriers of the disease, and it spreads.

Even the US government is complacent in that, either keeping quiet about such outbreaks, or using the population as guinea pigs to see how it would react and how quickly the local resources are able to deal with such.

As far as the Ebola outbreak, well lets just say this last time, I was in the DFW area, and there as a bit of nervousness on the part of the public, though it did not help that the communication was slow to some problems, like one of the people breaking quarantine several times.

The US has been lucky, that there have only been 4 times that Ebola has been on US soil, one would think that those that make the policies would have changed them to make it harder for the spread of that disease. Even one of the strains, was named, Reston.

a reply to: sdcigarpig

Honestly, as scary as Ebola is, it takes specific conditions to really take off, and even then it's not really a super efficient spreader.

The street conditions in California would be about right for an outbreak I think. I recall that one of the things that exacerbated the outbreak written about in one book on the subject was that nurses in Belgian mission re-used the syringes after dipping them in an anti-septic that didn't kill the virus, so they spread the sickness to their patients unknowingly.

You have dirty conditions, IV drug users, re-using needles ... it's all there to be very bad.

I think in our modern times, many have forgotten that some of these standards are in place for very practical reasons and not just because conservatives are moralistic prigs.