UK man bitten by cat suffers excruciating infection caused by unknown bacteria

A MAN was left with an excruciating infection caused by a previously unknown bacteria after he was bit by a cat.

The obese man, 48, rushed to an emergency department in Cambridge after his hand started to swell.

The feral cat bit him eight hours earlier and he had multiple cuts and teeth marks around his wrist.

Dr Nick Jones, of Cambridge University Hospitals, said: “Cats are major reservoirs of zoonotic infections. 

“Their long, sharp teeth predispose to deep-tissue bite injuries, and direct inoculation of feline saliva gives high risk for secondary infection.”

The man was sent home after being given a tetanus shot and his wounds were cleaned and dressed.

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But the next day he was back, after both his forearms went red and started to swell up and his fingers became agonisingly enlarged.

Doctors took him under the knife to remove the damaged tissue around his wounds and gave him three types of antibiotics.

He was sent home with more antibiotics, and thankfully he started to recover.

However, baffled medics back at the hospitals analysed his tissue to see what had caused the surprising symptoms.

They found it was caused by a bacteria that looked similar to streptococcus, which causes infections like meningitis, strep throat, bacterial pneumonia and pink eye.

Analysis of the man’s infection found it did not match any strain on record, however.

Further sequencing found it actually belonged to a family of bacteria called globicatella but is distinct from other strains of the group by around 20 per cent.

While some types of globicatella can be resistant to several forms of antibiotics, the new strain appears to respond to some of those given to the man.

But medics said the case serves as a warning of the dangers of cat bites.

Writing in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Dr Jones said: “This report highlights the role of cats as reservoirs of as yet undiscovered bacterial species that have human pathogenic potential.”