Man has arms and feet cut off after catching deadly Victorian disease from flea
A man who caught a Victorian disease had to have both his hands and feet chopped off in a frantic bid to save his life.
Texan Michael Kohlhof was left in the incurable Typhus after being bitten by a flea and required life-changing amputations.
The disease is so severe that in 1812 it killed more French soldiers than the Russians did when Napoleon retreated from Moscow.
Michael managed to fight it off for around 11 days with various medications, but he had developed dry gangrene in his hands and feet.
The only way to save his life, with medical professionals expecting him to suffer from brain death imminently, meant he had to have his hands chopped off up his forearms, as well as his feet removed.
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It's not known how or where he was bitten, but his family has now launched a GoFundMe to try and raise enough money to cover the eye-watering medical bills that inevitably come from an event such as this in the United States.
Michael Kohlhof, from Texas, had to have both his hands and feet amputated after being bitten by a flea (GoFundMe)They are looking to raise around £280,000, the Daily Star reports. and have so far reached around £50,000 of that, with the largest donation so far being around £5,500, closely followed by another of around £4,800.
His mother J'Lenne and friend Ricky Hardaway, who set up the fundraiser, said: “Michael has strength and will be undergoing an excruciating amount of surgeries, therapies and rehabilitation, mostly to restore activities of daily living.
Michael Kohlhof's mother J'Lenne Hardaway, and his brother Greg, have set up a fundraiser for his medical costs (Fox 26 Houston)“But he shouldn't have to worry about the financial pain. The more I research, the more I'm astonished at what can be done, but it's always at a cost.”
In the UK, the NHS advises that, while there are no vaccines to prevent getting the disease, you can reduce the risk of infection by wearing insect spray, long-sleeved shirts and trousers, washing regularly and making sure you change clothes.
If you do catch it, the symptoms include headaches, high temperature, vomiting, diarrhoea, dry cough, tummy pain, joint pain, backache and a dark spotty rash on your chest.
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