Unexplained infection after being bitten by a cat

If you’re having a bad day, remember there’s always worse to come. For example, a 48-year-old man from the United Kingdom was bitten by a stray cat.He ended up contracting what scientists believe to be a bacteria they’ve never met before.

As the researchers say, the immune response to foreign microbes is mind-boggling. In fact, within just eight hours of receiving multiple bites, the man’s hands were so swollen that he had to go to the emergency room.

There, doctors cleaned and bandaged his wounds and gave him a tetanus shot before sending him home with antibiotics. However, he returned to the hospital a day later. The reason is: the little finger and middle finger of the left hand are thick, and the two forearms are red and swollen.

Doctors then choose to surgically remove the damaged tissue around the wound. They also gave him three different antibiotics by IV, then sent him home again, this time with oral antibiotics.

The last treatments worked and the patient made a full recovery, but the doctors continued to work on his case because they didn’t have everything with them.This is how they discovered a similar Streptococcus

Microorganisms present in wound samples.

when we talk about Streptococcus We’re talking about a gram-positive bacterium that’s been linked to meningitis, strep throat, bacterial pneumonia and conjunctivitis, among many other diseases.

However, it is not. When they sequenced part of the bacterial genome, they did not match any of the documented strains. In fact, this is a new bacterium that scientists have never formally documented, belonging to another gram-positive bacteria, the genus Coccus.according to author:

This work highlights the role of cats as reservoirs of as yet undiscovered bacterial species with human pathogenic potential.

Experts remind that if you are attacked by a stray cat, you should immediately wash the wound gently with soap or salt, and then seek medical attention immediately.