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Rotting Trash Piles Sky-High in LA, Attracting Rats and Raising Concerns of a New Epidemic
NBC4 ^

Posted on 05/22/2019 2:21:30 AM PDT by Altura Ct.

After reporting LA's most notorious trash pile to the city's 311 services hotline, the I-Team was told it could take up to 90 days before it's cleaned up. An expert says there's no time to waste.

Rat-infested piles of rotting garbage left uncollected by the city of Los Angeles, even after promises to clean it up, are fueling concerns about a new epidemic after last year's record number of flea-borne typhus cases.

Even the city's most notorious trash pile, located between downtown LA's busy Fashion and Produce districts, continues to be a magnet for rats after it was cleaned up months ago. The rodents can carry typhus-infected fleas, which can spread the disease to humans through bacteria rubbed into the eyes or cuts and scrapes on the skin, resulting in severe flu-like symptoms.

The NBC4 I-Team first told Mayor Eric Garcetti's office about the piles of filth in the 700 block of Ceres Avenue in October. At the time, he promised to make sure trash doesn't pile up like that.

The garbage was cleaned after the interview, but conditions have worsened over the next seven months.

"I can’t walk down the street without thinking that a flea could jump on me," said Estela Lopez, who represents business owners in the area.

After reporting the pile of waste to the city's 311 services hotline, the I-Team was told it could take up to 90 days before it's cleaned.

Infectious disease specialist Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, of UCLA, said there's no time to waste.

LA Vows to Clean Filth From More City Streets "Trash and food waste attracts rats," said Klausner. "It does pose a public health risk."

An out-of-control rat population can even lead to the spread of dangerous strains of salmonella and bubonic plague, he noted.

Other large U.S. cities, like New York and Washington DC, have teams devoted to aggressive rat control. In the nation's capital, they're experimenting with bait stations laced with a rat contraceptive.

But in Los Angeles, the I-Team learned there is no plan or program to control the growing rat population that feasts at trash piles like the one on Ceres Avenue. "It's something that we'll look into," said Pepe Garica, of Los Angeles' bureau of sanitation.

Rats carrying typhus-infected fleas were found around LA last fall, according to county health department records obtained by the I-Team. The agency did not provide details about where the fleas were found, saying that information would cause confusion and unnecessary alarm, but the I-Team discovered that typhus-infected fleas were found on animals waiting to be adopted at the North Central Animal Shelter.

Typhus Epidemic Worsens in Los Angeles Between 2013 and 2017, county residents reported a yearly average of nearly 60 cases. That's twice as many the number reported in the previous five years.

Last year, a record 124 cases were reported in Los Angeles County.

Symptoms of flea-borne typhus, which can start within two weeks after infection, include high fever, headache, chills, and body aches. Rashes can appear on the chest, back, arms and legs. Fatalities occur in less than 1 percent of cases.

The I-Team asked the Department of Public Health what became of the shelter animals carrying fleas that tested positive for typhus. We are still waiting to hear back.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: California; US: Maryland; US: New York
KEYWORDS: baltimore; botox; california; elijahcummings; jerroldnadler; jerrynadler; losangeles; madmaxine; maryland; maxinewaters; mayarockeymoore; nadler; nancypelosi; newyork; sanfrancisco; sanfrannan
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Video @ link.
1 posted on 05/22/2019 2:21:30 AM PDT by Altura Ct.
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To: Altura Ct.

How many illegal alien invaders are in LA?


2 posted on 05/22/2019 2:23:55 AM PDT by wastedyears (The left would kill every single one of us and our families if they knew they could get away with it)
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To: wastedyears

Lots of Americans vote for this trash too. Sick, demented losers.


3 posted on 05/22/2019 2:34:05 AM PDT by mindburglar (Stupid is supposed to hurt. - Lurkers Granddad.)
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To: Altura Ct.

Los Angeles — Making America a S***hole Country.


4 posted on 05/22/2019 2:40:35 AM PDT by Jyotishi (Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)
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To: mindburglar

yup. New Yorkers did the same thing. Voted for comrade Deblasio to get the city back from the Guiliani era where the city was safe and clean and also to punish businesses.

They like wallowing in someone elses filth on broken train cars, stepping over homeless people, needles and feces and getting rolled by mobs of kids in the local markets.


5 posted on 05/22/2019 2:50:31 AM PDT by newnhdad (Our new motto: USA, it was fun while it lasted.)
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To: newnhdad

These places are simply starting to resemble the homelands of the Third Worlders imported to keep the lights on in them. The Americans that used to pay for the maintenance and sanitation have gone...


6 posted on 05/22/2019 2:55:36 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: Altura Ct.

I’m glad that I moved from L.A. 15 years ago. I still visit friends and family there but it’s out in the West San Fernando valley. I haven’t been in downtown L.A. in at least 35 years.


7 posted on 05/22/2019 3:04:38 AM PDT by HighSierra5
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To: Altura Ct.

An out-of-control rat population can even lead to the spread of dangerous strains of bubonic plague


Are there non-dangerous strains of bubonic plague? Asking for a friend.


8 posted on 05/22/2019 3:16:23 AM PDT by VTenigma (The Democrat party is the party of the mathematically challenged)
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To: newnhdad

If they didn’t have all those problems how could they demand money to clean it? Also, if the city is run well there would no way to virtue signal.


9 posted on 05/22/2019 3:16:30 AM PDT by raybbr (The left is a poison on society. There is no antidote. Running its course will be painful. You)
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To: wastedyears

More like how many Americans are left in LA.


10 posted on 05/22/2019 3:22:51 AM PDT by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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To: Altura Ct.
You voted for this, Los Angeles.

And you'll keep voting for it.

11 posted on 05/22/2019 3:30:16 AM PDT by TwelveOfTwenty (Prayers for our country and President Trump)
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To: Altura Ct.

Just making the newcomers feel at home.


12 posted on 05/22/2019 3:46:57 AM PDT by Mashood
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To: Altura Ct.
bait stations laced with a rat contraceptive

How about rat poison, instead of birth control? Are rats an endangered species in CA, and somehow illegal to kill?
13 posted on 05/22/2019 4:05:36 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia (Democrats: The perfect party for the helpless and stupid, and those who would rule over them.)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

Environmental faggots being sensitive.


14 posted on 05/22/2019 4:13:33 AM PDT by EEGator
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

The contraceptive is in DC. And no, rat poison is not the way to go. It poisons the bald eagles which live in and around DC. It also winds up in the river.


15 posted on 05/22/2019 4:17:34 AM PDT by palmer (...if we do not have strong families and strong values, then we will be weak and we will not survive)
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To: EEGator

As Chris Plante noted on his show yesterday, rat poison is a bad idea.


16 posted on 05/22/2019 4:18:49 AM PDT by palmer (...if we do not have strong families and strong values, then we will be weak and we will not survive)
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To: Altura Ct.

Not in Democrat owned and operated LA. This has to be a misprint.


17 posted on 05/22/2019 4:24:02 AM PDT by simpson96
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To: Altura Ct.

Hand out free flea collars . Use the same agency that passes out free hypodermic needles.


18 posted on 05/22/2019 4:52:21 AM PDT by BraveMan
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To: Altura Ct.

Meanwhile, the population exploded, and intelligence continued to decline...until humanity was incapable of solving even its most basic problems.

Like garbage, which had been stacked for centuries with no plan whatsoever... leading to the Great Garbage Avalanche of 2505...


19 posted on 05/22/2019 5:16:31 AM PDT by Clay Moore (You can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.)
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To: Clay Moore

I love that movie. It’s so prophetic!


20 posted on 05/22/2019 5:19:00 AM PDT by 3boysdad (The very elect.)
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