A Texas man had both his hands and part of his feet amputated in a horror ordeal after a flea gave him a potentially deadly disease.
Michael Kohlhof contracted typhus and was diagnosed with septic shock and organ failure all from the bite.
The 35-year-old, from Houston, Texas, was visiting his mother in hospital in San Antonio when he fell ill on June 19.
Despite his family suspecting the flu, Michael woke up on morning with his feet feeling numb.
A week later, after his mom urged him to go to hospice, he went into septic shock and was rushed to the ICU with symptoms so severe his family was told he would likely die.
Michael was then put on a ventilator and intubated, with Greg Kohlhof, the man’s brother, telling KENS5: “He almost died once or twice.
“They were worried about him being brain dead.”
Michael’s illness was a shock as he did not show any abnormal symptoms in the weeks leading up to his diagnosis, although he felt tired.
The family learned it was typhus, an infectious disease spread to humans by fleas, lice and chiggers.
Greg added: “With his symptoms being so general, I don’t know if he would have went to the doctor. He would have probably just tried to sleep it off.”
On July 10, after a month into his hospital stay, doctors at University Hospital amputated both of Michael’s hands.
Then on Thursday last week, he lost his toes and the top half of his feet.
J’Lenne Hardaway, Kohlhof’s mother, said doctors told them this type of flea is only found in California and Texas.
They said he was “the victim of a severe and traumatic bite from one single flea — with unimaginable consequences,” she said on a GoFundMe page.
Her son did not have health insurance, and she is now fundraising to help him.
“If it were 48 hours later, he would have not made it,” she said.
Symptoms of typhus include fever and chills, body aches and muscle pain, loss of appetite, and vomiting, according to the CDC.
“Untreated, typhus can cause severe illness and damage to one or more organs, including the liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, and brain,” the health body says.
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