September 17, 2018.
Bacteria in your dog or cat’s mouth can kill you. Beware of those affectionate licks!
A potentially fatal infection if left untreated
A lick from your dog or your cat, nothing more trivial you probably think. And yet, this mark of affection could be fatal to you. In any case, this is what a study carried out by researchers from the University of Brest suggests. In a publication published in the journal Doctors and infectious diseases, the authors warn against a bacterium: Capnocytophaga canimorsus.
The latter, by entering the body of a man whose immune system is failing, can cause a potentially serious infection: septic shock which would prove fatal in some cases if the patient is not taken care of in time.
Watch out for your infected wounds
Many cases have been reported by the scientific press in recent months. Among them, that of a 56-year-old man who, in January 2017, was diagnosed with meningitis after being hospitalized. His animals had licked his forearm on which he had sores. The infection spread quickly and eventually her fingers were amputated.
If, sometimes, the origin of the infection is more easily identifiable, it also happens that the patient has not been licked or bitten by a dog. This is the case of this 54-year-old man who, last April, succumbed to a fulgurating meningococcal sepsis, without any bite having been revealed. As a precaution, and when you have a wound that becomes infected, see a doctor quickly before the situation gets worse.
Gaelle Latour
Read also Sepsis: all about the infection associated with sepsis
