At least six Los Angeles Police Department officers from the same downtown precinct are showing signs of typhoid fever and a “typhus-like” illness after working in or near the city’s growing homeless encampment.
Late last week, radio host Dr. Drew Pinsky made headlines declaring that Los Angeles is the epicenter of a “public health emergency” stemming from a growing homeless population that finds nothing wrong with setting up permanent encampments across large swaths of the city’s downtown area, and cautioned that, unless city officials took immediate action, it’s likely the homeless population in LA could see an outbreak of the bubonic plague.
The plague, of course, killed tens of millions across Europe in the 14th century, before the advent of public sanitation and clean water systems. But as Pinksy recalled to Fox News host Laura Ingraham last week, Los Angeles is suffering from a complete lack of a sanitation strategy, and just as these serious communicable diseases seem to be taking root, the city council is considering a ban or moratorium on using rat poison.
The six LAPD officers include at least one detective who has already been diagnosed with typhoid fever. The city’s police union announced late Saturday that five others are showing symptoms of the same rare illness. – READ MORE