Los Angeles’ Latest Typhus Outbreak: More ‘Medieval’ Conditions

Los Angeles has a flea-borne typhus outbreak in L.A.’s Wilshire Center, causing 7 people to get sick, 6 were hospitalized. There have been 109 typhus cases this year, and more than 220 last year in LA.

The disease, historically associated with earlier eras of poor sanitation and rattus-rattus population explosions, is re-emerging in L.A. County. Health officials say fleas are the key exposure.

Remember when the California Legislature banned Rodenticides in 2020, right during the middle of the last typhus outbreak?

In May 2019, the Globe reported:

While Los Angeles, and other large California cities are experiencing rat infestations within homeless camps, AB 1788, by Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) will ban Rodenticides – rodent poisons. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency  and Department of Pesticide Regulation already regulate these products for efficacy, human health impacts and impacts to the environment.

Rodenticides have been a critical tool for controlling rodent populations to protect Californians from the spread of disease and illnessRodenticides have been a critical tool for controlling rodent populations to protect Californians from the spread of disease and illness.

Add to that San Francisco’s no-kill, catch-and-release rat policy, and the City by the Bay’s homeless conditions also turned Medieval.

“Humane Wildlife Control addresses the problem by sealing holes in buildings that can create entry points for rodents, and then they set up live catch traps to capture rats,” SF Gate reported in 2017. “Once rats are caught, they’re released right in the backyard.”

NEW: A flea-borne typhus outbreak is under investigation in L.A.’s Wilshire Center after 7 people got sick and 6 were hospitalized.

The disease, historically associated with earlier eras of poor sanitation, is re-emerging in L.A. County.

Health officials say fleas are the key… pic.twitter.com/Pv3TiVi3we

— Matthew Seedorff (@MattSeedorff) September 23, 2026

At the time, Dr. Drew Pinsky, who broadcasted on KABC radio in Los Angeles made appearances on several national television shows reporting of a complete breakdown of the basic needs of civilization in Los Angeles. “We have the three prongs of airborne diseases, tuberculous is exploding, rodent fleas,” Pinsky said on Laura Ingraham Thursday. “We are one of the only major cities in the country that does not have a rodent control program. Sanitation has broken down. We had a typhus outbreak last year, we will have typhus this summer. I’m hearing from experts that bubonic plague is likely, it’s already here, it will get onto the rat fleas. And then now finally we have this oral-fecal route contamination which is tyhpoid fever. Three cases. One confirmed, probably three. This is unbelievable.”

He called the conditions in Los Angeles “Medieval.” He said it was not third-world, but Medieval. “Third-world countries are insulted if they are accused of being like this. No city on earth tolerates on this. The entire population is at risk.”

Bill analysis for AB 1788 said, “According to the United States Environmental Protection, the most important steps in eliminating and preventing rodent infestations are keeping living spaces clean; preventing rodent access; and, eliminating potential nesting areas.”

With the 8-10 years of daily news reports about homeless populations defecating and urinating on public streets, and encampments infested with garbage, and thriving vermin, it was astounding that AB 1788 passed every committee and was passed by the Legislature in 2020, and signed into law by Governor Newsom September 29, 2020.

Los Angeles is so far beyond preventative measures, then and now.