A 76-year-old man from Canada ended up in a serious medical condition after a rat bite. He was trying to catch the rat, which was in his toilet. But instead, the rat bit two of his fingers. This incident caused the man several problems like organ failure and sepsis.
After his first visit to the emergency room, the 76-year-old man got basic wound care and a tetanus shot. But 18 days later, he had to go back to the ER because he was still feeling sick. He had symptoms like a fever, headaches and stomach pain for three days. This comes from a report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Medical tests showed that the man’s heart was beating fast, his blood pressure was low and his kidneys were damaged. Also, he showed signs of problems with many organs and had sepsis. Because of this, he needed to stay in the intensive care unit.
Despite the improvement in his medical condition, doctors were concerned about a possible connection to his declining health condition. After blood and urine tests, doctors found that the man had leptospirosis, a bacterial infection that animals like rats transfer to people. In serious situations, leptospirosis can even cause death.
As per the report, doctors found that the bacteria entered the man’s body through a rat bite. They suspect the rat might have had urine in its mouth, which then infected the man’s broken skin. This type of bacteria is usually present in the urine of animals such as rats.
Studies reveal that worldwide, more than 1 million cases of leptospirosis are reported annually, with nearly 60,000 resulting in death. It unveils the mortality rates for this bacterial infection to be between 5% to 15%.
In the case of the Canadian man, he received treatment which involved antibiotics and steroids. After three days, he was released from the ICU. Leptospirosis can sometimes be very dangerous, but in the case of the man bitten by the rat, antibiotics helped him feel better. He left the ICU after just a few days.
Comments
0 comment