Typhus case prompts flea protection warning

County health officials are urging pet owners who let their animals outside to remember to protect their pets – and themselves – from fleas after a county resident has recovered from a relatively rare but potentially deadly form of typhus.

County public health officials said a North Park woman was hospitalized in May but has fully recovered after contracting murine typhus, a bacterial disease.

It is most commonly spread by fleas that feed on infected rats, opossums, cats, raccoons and rodents. Those fleas can hitchhike into people's homes on pet cats and dogs if pets are let outside without fl...