By News Desk @bactiman63
Typhoid
A Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) employee has contracted Salmonella typhi and one other employee has Salmonella typhi-like symptoms. Both work at the Central Division, which patrols downtown L.A., including Skid Row, according to a KABC report.
“Officers worry enough about being shot or injured policing the streets of Los Angeles, they shouldn’t also have to worry about being infected with diseases they can take home to their families simply by showing up to work. Our demand is simple; clean it up and provide preventive measures before there is a massive outbreak”, The L.A. Police Protective League said in a statement.
Typhoid fever is a potentially life-threatening illness caused by the bacterium Salmonella typhi. Salmonella typhi lives only in humans. Persons with typhoid fever carry the bacteria in their bloodstream and intestinal tract. In addition, a small number of persons, called carriers, recover from typhoid fever but continue to carry the bacteria. Both ill persons and carriers shed S.typhi in their feces.
You can get typhoid fever if you eat food or drink beverages that have been handled by a person who is shedding S. typhi or if sewage contaminated with S. typhi bacteria gets into the water you use for drinking or washing food. Therefore, typhoid fever is more common in areas of the world where handwashing is less frequent and water is likely to be contaminated with sewage.
Typhoid fever can be successfully treated with appropriate antibiotics, and persons given antibiotics usually begin to feel better within 2 to 3 days.
Measles
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) says there have been no new measles cases in the county since May 2, 2019, but the threat of measles persists, primarily due to importation from travel.
DPH has confirmed 8 cases of measles in 2019 to date and has investigated thousands of exposures in both adults and children related to these cases.
Four of the cases were linked to a single case who had traveled internationally and the other 3 cases were unlinked and in residents who had recently returned from travel outside the United States.
The majority of cases were unvaccinated, and the remainder were only partially vaccinated. While the immediate threat of measles from local cases is waning (the surveillance of exposed contacts ends May 27, 2019), the possibility of new measles cases persists due to global outbreaks.
Syphilis advisory
Finally, DPH also tweeted an advisory about syphilis in the county–Syphilis cases have increased in #LACounty especially among men who have sex with men (MSM). Get tested if you think you have #syphilis. It can be easily treated and cured with certain antibiotics. Call for free and confidential testing: (800)758-0880
Affordable, 5 Minute Testing with our at-home testing kits for Syphilis. No doctor or lab visits required. Order now!
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