If you were bitten by a stray cat, could you get this scientifically unknown disease?

Eight hours later, a man is bitten by a stray cat suffer from serious health problems Had to go to the hospital.There, doctors discovered a microbe Bacteria unknown to science.

Unprecedented events occurred in U.K, A 48-year-old man was bitten by a stray cat, Eight hours later, his hand was badly swollen. Concerned about the situation, he went to the hospital, where the wound was cleaned and treated. They gave him a tetanus shot. Then they sent him home with antibiotics.

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He returned to the hospital the next day because his symptoms did not abate: he retained severe pain in his left hand and added a Severe swelling of both forearms.

doctors have to Surgery to remove damaged tissue around the wound They gave him three different antibiotics through an IV. After treatment, he was sent home again with oral antibiotics.

Fortunately, The new treatment worked and the man made a full recoveryBut he had to return to the hospital for scientists to analyze his case because the microbes they found in him were unknown.

Scientists analyzed samples from his wound and found an unidentifiable organism similar to Streptococcusa gram-positive bacterium that has been linked to meningitis, strep throat, bacterial pneumonia and conjunctivitis, among many other diseases.

However, when the researchers sequenced part of the bacterium’s genome, Does not match any recorded strain. The bacterium belongs to another class of Gram-positive bacteria called coccoids.

Whole-genome sequencing of the bacterium showed that it differed by about 20 percent from other related strains.This shows that a “Unique and previously undescribed species”, According to reports Science Alert.

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Because G. sulfidifaciens is resistant to several common types of antibiotics, it can difficult to eradicate from the body. Fortunately, the new strain found in the UK responds well to at least some antibiotics, but the story serves as a cautionary tale for the public.

“This report highlights the The role of cats as a repository of bacterial species It has not been found to have human pathogenic potential,” wrote the authors of the case study.