Giving Compass' Take:

· Global Citizen reports on the 'disease of poverty,' explaining that homelessness is contributing to the spread of Typhus throughout America. 

· How can funders address this public health problem? What are the public health concerns in your community? 

· Read more about poverty and learn how it affects the brain.

Typhus, a bacterial infection that is sometimes life threatening, is on the rise in Los Angeles and several other US cities. Public health officials say homelessness is making the problem worse and that the disease, which is associated with poverty and poor sanitation, is making a comeback in the United States.

Los Angeles County has seen 64 cases of typhus this year, compared with 53 at the same point last year and double the typical number, with a six-case cluster among the homeless in LA this year. Two cities in the county that have separate counts are also seeing higher numbers: Long Beach with 13 cases, up from five last year, and Pasadena with 20, a more than three-fold increase from 2017.

At a clinic in the LA neighborhood called Skid Row, Dr. Lisa Abdishoo of Los Angeles Christian Health Centers is on the lookout for symptoms.

“It’s a nonspecific fever,” she said, “body aches, sometimes a headache, sometimes a rash.”

This kind of typhus is spread by fleas on rats, opossums, or even pets and is known as murine typhus, from the Latin word for “mouse.”

Read the full article about the 'disease of poverty' at Global Citizen.