A 63-year-old German man has died of an infection he contracted from a dog lick. He was not exposed to other animals or had a compromised immune system before the infection. But he had a pet dog for only a few weeks and he developed the infection because the animal had licked him. The man’s body had no open wounds and he was in good health before the infection.
An alarming story for animal owners
The man had never been bitten or touched by a dog before the incident. After experiencing three days of fever and difficulty breathing, doctors at the Red Cross Hospital in Bremen, Germany, took him to the emergency room. He was diagnosed with severe sepsis, encephalopathy, and intestinal muscle paralysis. The man ultimately died after 16 days of intensive treatment. But the man’s case is a cautionary tale for pet owners.
Infections can be extremely contagious and deadly
This rare bacterial infection is highly contagious and can be fatal, especially if you have a compromised immune system. Although the man was otherwise healthy, he was prone to acquiring the infection because he licked the dog. He began developing symptoms of a fever, chills, and leg pain, and his skin developed a purplish-red rash. When his condition worsened, doctors admitted him to a hospital’s intensive care unit, where he died 16 days later.
