Houston Man Undergoes Double Amputation After Flea Bite: Report

Michael Kohlhof’s family says he contracted typhus from a flea bite, which led to him losing his hands and parts of his feet

A single flea bite has caused a Houston man to contract a serious disease that led to the amputation of both of his hands, and parts of his feet.

Michael Kohlhof, a handyman and pet-sitter, was in San Antonio helping his mother recuperate from a 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 pay for her son’s expenses.

Once at the hospital, Kohlhof’s condition quickly deteriorated: The 35-year-old man went into septic shock, and by the next day, was on a ventilator, dialysis, antibiotics, beta-blockers, and more medications as his mother writes “his organs were failing.”

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"He almost died once or twice," his brother Greg Kohlhof told KEN5 news. "They were worried about him being brain dead."

The culprit: Typhus, a disease caused by a bacteria carried by infected fleas. Symptoms include fever and chills, body aches and muscle pain, loss of appetite, and vomiting, according to the CDC.

And although the CDC says “flea-borne typhus is a rare disease in the United States,” it does say it’s found in Hawaii, California, and Texas, and that “untreated [typhus] can cause severe illness and damage to one or more organs, including the liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, and brain.”

Related: What You Need to Know About the New Tick-Borne Disease Emerging This Summer

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’s 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, whom she says 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 said 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.”

Related: Melissa Gilbert Hospitalized Due to Bug Bite: 'My Whole Upper Arm Was Swollen'

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.”

And Kohlhof’s family is stressing the importance of seeking medical care. “If it were 48 hours later,” Masood said, “he would have not made it.”

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