Rat Bite Fever: The First Case Report from Qatar

Abstract

Patient: Male, 37-year-old Final Diagnosis: Rat bite fever Symptoms: Acute gastroenteritis • fever • headache • loose stools • vomiting Medication: — Clinical Procedure: — Specialty: Critical Care Medicine • Dermatology • Infectious Diseases • Public Health Objective: Rare disease Background: Rat bite fever (RBF) is a rare but fatal zoonotic disease caused by infections with various bacteria, which are transmitted from rats or other rodents. Only a few patients worldwide are diagnosed with RBF annually. RBF can be fatal if left untreated, with a mortality rate of about 10% in patients with severe RBF. Case Report: A case 37-year-old previously healthy man presented to the emergency department with acute gastroenteritis, sepsis and multi-organ failure requiring ventilatory support. He was later diagnosed with RBF due to Streptobacillus moniliformis . He recovered rapidly after administration of intravenous penicillin G and was discharged from the hospital 10 days later. Conclusions: This report describes a patient with RBF and multi-organ involvement requiring ventilatory support. He was successfully treated with intravenous penicillin G. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a patient from Qatar with RBF.

Rat bite fever, a neglected and underdiagnosed entity: case report

“…2,5 Interestingly, approximately 30% of patients diagnosed with RBF do not report having been bitten or scratched by rodents. 7 The patient in this case recalled a rat bite 24 hours before symptoms onset and a closer examination revealed the bite wound on the fifth finger of his left hand.…”

Rat bite fever with multifocal musculoskeletal infection and septic shock

“…Case reports of RBF in Europe are scarce [2], however, it is likely that this disease is underdiagnosed due to its nonspecific clinical presentation [6], adequate treatment with short-spectrum and commonly used antibiotics [7] and difficult laboratory identification of Streptobacillus moniliformis [8]. To the best of our knowledge, up to date, only one case of RBF has been reported in Portugal [3].…”