Blem for real, a tropical disease is making a comeback in Texas

In this photo provided by the Spanish Defense Ministry, aid workers and doctors transfer Manuel Garcia Viejo, a Spanish priest who was diagnosed with the Ebola virus while working in Sierra Leone, from a military plane to an ambulance as he leaves the Torrejon de Ardoz military airbase, near Madrid, Spain, Monday, Sept. 22, 2014. The Spanish priest who was diagnosed with the Ebola virus while working in Sierra Leone has been flown back to Spain and taken to a Madrid hospital. Garcia Viejo, a medical director of the San Juan de Dios Hospital in the city of Lunsar in Sierra Leone, arrived on a medically equipped military plane shortly after 3 a.m. Monday. (AP Photo/Spanish Defense Ministry)

Cases of typhus in the state of Texas are increasing, and researchers aren’t sure why.

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According to MySanAntonio.com, Typhus cases went from being reported in just nine Texas counties to 41 between 2003 to 2013.

During the same time period, 60 percent of people who contracted the disease required hospitalization, and four people died.

Bexar County reported over 60 reported cases of the disease last year, while Hidalgo County saw 85 — the highest number in Texas.

While there were no deaths reported from typhus last year, according to Metropolitan Health District officials, symptoms of typhus include fever, headache, rash, achy muscles, nausea and vomiting.

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“Chagas, dengue fever, Zika, chikungunya and now typhus — tropical diseases have become the new normal in south and southeast Texas,” Dr. Peter Hotez, founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor and Texas Children’s Hospital, said in an interview.

Typhus swept across the United States in the 1940s, mostly carried by fleas infected with the bacteria, but the introduction of pesticides mostly wiped it out.

But, making what some are calling a comeback, there were over 300 cases reported in Texas last year.

Symptoms common to other ailments make it hard to diagnose; however new studies are emerging with the goal of recognizing and treating typhus more effectively.

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