A single flea bite has caused a Houston man to contract a severe disease, resulting in the amputation of both his hands and parts of his feet.
Michael Kohlhof, a handyman and pet-sitter, was in San Antonio assisting his mother with her recovery from surgery when he woke up with numbness in his feet.
“We thought it was the flu,” his mother, J’Leene Hardaway, explains in a GoFundMe set up to help cover her son’s expenses.
Once at the hospital, Kohlhof’s condition rapidly deteriorated: The 35-year-old man went into septic shock and by the next day, he was on a ventilator, dialysis, antibiotics, beta-blockers, and other medications as his mother writes “his organs were failing.”
“He almost died once or twice,” his brother Greg Kohlhof told KEN5 news. “They were worried about him being brain dead.”
The cause: Typhus, a disease caused by bacteria carried by infected fleas. According to the CDC, symptoms include fever and chills, body aches and muscle pain, loss of appetite, and vomiting.
Although the CDC says “flea-borne typhus is a rare disease in the United States,” it is found in Hawaii, California, and Texas.
“Untreated [typhus] can cause severe illness and damage to one or more organs, including the liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, and brain.”
Hardaway explains that her son was “the victim of a severe and traumatic bite from one single flea — with unimaginable consequences. His hands and feet had dry gangrene,” which the Mayo Clinic describes as the “death of body tissue.”
Doctors amputated both of Kohlhof’s hands “up to his forearms,” his mother writes.
He has already lost his toes and parts of his feet. “As of now, we do not know how much of his feet are salvageable,” Hardaway adds about her son, who was also an avid volunteer at community gardens and festivals.
“Me and him talked about it. It’s not your hands that do all these great things. It’s your mind,” Greg told KEN5 News. “You’ll just have to find a new avenue to exercise it.”
His brother also mentioned that Kohlhof wants people to be aware of what he’s going through so they can protect themselves.
“I think he also wants people to know this kind of stuff is out there. There are fleas, there are diseases, but just be cautious, be aware, don’t be afraid to live your life.”
His partner, Alishpa Masood, told KHOU11 that “he has gone beyond our expectations as far as strength and bravery. He has a really positive outlook that we’re all really proud of.”
Kohlhof’s family emphasizes the importance of seeking medical care. “If it were 48 hours later,” Masood said, “he would have not made it.”
