Outbreak of gross medieval disease sends six people to hospital in LA neighborhood

A nasty flea-borne disease making a comeback in Los Angeles has hospitalized six people in a new outbreak.

Health officials are investigating the latest outbreak of flea-borne typhus in the Wilshire Center area as the bacterial infection continues to resurface across LA County, FOX LA reported.

The new cluster comes just months after another outbreak was identified in Pico-Union, where five people developed symptoms and were hospitalized earlier this year.

Health officials believe fleas are the key source of exposure in the latest outbreak.

“Really, anyone who has contact with fleas — that’s the major exposure,” Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, an infectious disease specialist at the USC Keck School of Medicine, told the outlet.

The illness is commonly linked to fleas carried by rats and other animals and has historically been associated with areas suffering from poor sanitation.

Klausner said cases often occur around homeless encampments or other places with poor sanitation, while outdoor cats and other pets can also encounter infected fleas.

Flea-borne typhus is a severe bacterial infection caused by Rickettsia typhi. People can become infected when feces from an infected flea enter the body through broken skin or are rubbed into the eyes.

Symptoms typically emerge within one to two weeks and can include fever, headaches, vomiting, rash, muscle soreness and body aches.

The disease does not spread from person to person and can be treated with antibiotics—when caught early.

The Wilshire Center outbreak comes amid a years-long rise in flea-borne typhus across Los Angeles County.

The county recorded a record 220 cases in 2025, up from 187 the previous year. Nearly nine out of every 10 people diagnosed with the illness in 2025 required hospitalization.

Another 109 cases have been reported across the county so far this year.

LA County health officials have previously warned that infected fleas can be carried by rats, free-roaming cats and opossums, and people may be exposed around their own homes without realizing an animal is carrying them.

Residents have been urged to keep pets on year-round flea control, avoid contact with wild or stray animals and prevent rats and other wildlife from taking up residence around their homes.

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