Recently a 17 year old who is to remain unnamed suffered from a rare disease known as rat-bite fever after contracting the disease from their pet rat. The rat-bite fever disease is so rare that only 200 cases have been reported in the US since 1839. Some experts attribute the low number of rat-bite fever cases to the fact that most people will never get close enough to a diseased rat to be infected whereas those who have pet rats are considerably more at risk.
The patient of the rat-bite fever was rushed to the hospital after becoming immobile due to extreme pain in the hip and lower back. After running lab tests on her three pet rats who had all died of the disease it was confirmed that the patient was suffering from rat-bite fever caused by bacterium Streptobacillus moniliformis or Spirillary minus.
Rat-bite fever is typically transmitted via rat bites or scratches from infected rodents but the disease can also be transmitted just by handling an infected rodent. Typical symptoms include; fever, vomiting, headache, rashes, muscle and joint pain, swollen lymph nodes, ulcer at the bite wound, and swelling near the wound. Typically rat-bite fever will last three days up to three weeks but if left untreated the disease could result in death.
If you are worried about the rats or rodents on your property make sure to contact a pest control professional to help eradicate the issue. If located in Southern California contact the LA Commercial Pest Control and California General Pest Control experts at Innovative Pest Solutions!