Medieval diseases are returning to Los Angeles, and California Democrats’ policy failures have helped create the conditions for their resurgence.
Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, reports that Los Angeles’s ongoing homelessness crisis, deteriorating sanitation, ineffective rodent control, and state restrictions on some of the most effective rodent poisons have combined to fuel outbreaks of hantavirus and in particular, flea-borne typhus.
This is no longer a matter of isolated cases. Authorities have identified clustered outbreaks, with the disease primarily infecting homeless people and those living in transitional housing. And in 2026, city officials admitted that the "increasing volume of cases is quickly exceeding capacity to investigate and respond,”
.@christopherrufo: "You have a return of typhus. You have outbreaks of hantavirus. You have a plethora of medieval diseases that are on the rise in L.A.
— Manhattan Institute (@ManhattanInst) August 18, 2026
There are a couple of causes for this. The first is that the homeless encampments that are scattered, not just in Skid Row,… pic.twitter.com/bam0xbUkPb
"This is about plague rats that have returned," Rufo said. "So we did a story, we did FOIA, we got 1,000 pages of documents from the County Health Department in Los Angeles. And the picture that these documents painted was quite grim. You have a return of typhus, you have outbreaks of hantavirus, you have really a plethora of medieval diseases that are on the rise in LA."
"And there are a couple of causes for this. The first is that the homeless encampments that are scattered, not just in Skid Row, but throughout the city, are the perfect breeding ground for rats. And so now there are millions of rats breeding under the streets of Los Angeles. And the County Health Department admits in these internal documents that they're not ready for these outbreaks." Rufo continued. "And at the same time, you have California Governor Gavin Newsom in two separate pieces of legislation in recent years banning all of the most effective rodenticides, so rat poisons that can keep that population at bay. And when you put those ingredients together, you get something that experts predicted in LA seems powerless to stop, which is typhus, including three deaths from typhus in recent years."
Los Angeles County recorded 220 typhus cases in 2025, the highest total on record.
Yet city and state officials continue to compound the problem by protecting homeless encampments, refusing to clear the garbage and human waste that have become common on Los Angeles streets, even when city workers file complaints, and dismissing warnings and other concerns from their own social-service personnel.
This is what happens when a city that claims to be on the cutting edge of compassionate social policy collides with reality. Los Angeles Democrats can promise ever more ambitious forms of wealth redistribution, but they cannot credibly claim to care for the vulnerable while failing at basic responsibilities such as sanitation, public health, and safe streets. Before attempting to remake society, they should prove they can keep their own city clean.
Editor's Note: Do you enjoy Townhall's conservative reporting that takes on the radical Left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the Conversation
VIP members get the ability to comment on articles.