In the United States, a 48-year-old man suffered an amputation of four limbs after being infected with the bacterium Capnocytophaga canimorsus, present in the saliva of some dogs.
Greg Manteufel, originally from Wisconsin, in the United States, saw his life suddenly turn upside down after being licked by a dog. This 48-year-old American painter by profession started with a fever and vomiting. So far, his symptoms haven’t worried him more than that. But the next day his condition worsened. While his fever had increased, Greg Manteufel suffered from fits of delirium and hallucinations. His wife Dawn Manteufel immediately transported him to the nearest hospital. On the spot, the doctors discover that his body is covered with bruises. Brands that weren’t there yet when the couple left their home. Dawn Manteufel tells the Washington post that it’s like her husband “got hit with a baseball bat.”
Placed on intravenous antibiotics, Greg Manteufel does not cure. His condition worsened. Clots form in her veins and block the flow of blood to the extremities of her body, gradually killing her cells and then her tissues. In just a few days, Greg Manteufel loses his arms and then his legs.
The shocking reason that this man’s legs and hands were amputated: A dog’s saliva https://t.co/SSz9LBghaG
– Washington Post (@washingtonpost) Aug 1, 2018
Greg Manteufel still owes undergo reconstructive surgery of the nose, the lack of blood circulation having in fact made it darken. Then he will be admitted to a rehabilitation center where he will relearn how to live with prostheses. When he is ready to resume a “normal” life, he will go and live with his parents who have a single storey house, while his wife sells theirs and buys a more practical one. “We have no choice but to be positive and make the most of it,” he said.
A blood infection caused by bacteria
Doctors have diagnosed the presence of the bacteria Capnocytophaga canimorsus. Hosted by the oral flora of some dogs (even healthy ones) this germ “is sometimes responsible for extremely serious human infections when the immune system is failing, explained last May The world. Infection with C. canimorsus is associated with a dog bite in 60% of cases, with licking on a pre-existing skin lesion in about 30% of cases. “But according to Dawn Manteufel, her husband would have been in contact with eight different dogs on the same day, including the one of the couple Impossible to know which one carries the bacteria.
Last April, doctors reported in the journal Science Direct “the observation of a 54-year-old patient, without previous history, living near a dog, having presented a septic shock with fatal purpura fulminans in connection with an infection with C. canimorsus, with no obvious notion of biting or ‘licking’ wound “. This case recalls” the extreme potential severity of rare sepsis with C. canimorsus and illustrates the fact that this is possible without the context of immunosuppression and without the notion of inoculation “, they wrote.
Last February, The Lancet also related the case of a 47-year-old Frenchman who, bitten by his dog, had suffered similar symptoms. While the antibiotic treatment prescribed by his doctor did not reduce his fever and he suffered from several ailments, the patient was hospitalized at Inter-municipal hospital center of Fréjus – Saint-Raphaël. Doctors then diagnose the same infection of the tissues of the fingers as Greg Manteufel. The patient died 48 hours after being hospitalized.
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