If dog bites are feared because of the possibility of catching rabies, we often underestimate cat bites, which can also transmit diseases to us, which sometimes are even unknown to science.
When a man presented to the emergency room with a swollen finger and wrist from a cat bite, doctors initially thought he had tetanus. But they finally detected a bacterium they had never seen before, reports a scientific article published in August by the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cats, a real reservoir of new diseases
The story takes place in the UK, in 2020, the publication reports. A 48-year-old man with no particular immune problem presented with this painful swelling in his hand, 8 hours after sustaining multiple bites and scratches from a stray domestic cat (different from the wildcat, which is a separate species) . "Cats are major reservoirs of zoonoses", or infectious diseases transmitted from animals to humans, explain researchers from the University of Cambridge. “Their long, sharp teeth” as well as direct exposure to “feline saliva” make a cat bite “present a high risk of infection by pathogens”.
The doctors, once they had treated his wounds, gave him an antibiotic treatment which initially did not work, since the patient returned to the hospital the next day with both forearms red and swollen. Some of the tissue was too damaged and had to be removed, while he was given another antibiotic treatment, which this time worked much better. But the doctors did not understand what had happened.
A whole new bacterium
When they analyzed samples from his wounds, they found a bacterium resembling Streptococcus (responsible for angina, for example), but whose genome was unknown. This new germ that has never been documented is actually a new species of Globicatella. Until now, Globicatella sanguinis was the only species known to cause human infection, "having been implicated in a small number of infections of the blood, heart, central nervous system and urinary tract", the scientists report. This "only" caused an infection of the patient's tissues, which is fine, but this story serves as a warning : cats are reservoirs of as yet unknown bacteria that are potentially pathogenic for humans.
If a stray cat bites you, wash your wound with soap and salt. Watch for any worrying symptoms, and talk to a doctor if it happens.
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