A teenager in Virginia was just one of many people who keep rats as pets.
But when this 17-year-old started suffering strange symptoms, she had no idea that her pet rat could be the culprit.
She was admitted to the hospital after complaining of pain in her right hip and lower back, which got so painful that she couldn’t even move.
When she got there, they diagnosed her with rat-bite fever.
Rat-bite fever is a disease that’s been recorded as far back as 2,300 years ago. Originally, it was a disease only gotten by the poor. Now, it’s more often acquired by lab workers or people who keep rodents as pets.
Often, the disease goes undiagnosed. In fact, only 200 cases have been reported in the United States since the year 1839.
While it most often occurs from a bite from a rodent, like with this teenager, often you can get an infection without direct contact.
The teen experienced fever, nausea, vomiting, and rash on her hands and feet for two weeks. The fever continued throughout, and after all the other symptoms went away, she began experiencing pain.
She had kept three rats in her bedroom, and one of the rats had died three weeks before her symptoms began—the most likely cause of her rat-bite fever.
She had several pets, but it was most likely the rat that caused it.
Her blood test returned positive for Streptobacillus moniliformis, which is the most common form of rat-bite fever.
Fortunately, the fever was treatable by a four-week course of antibiotics. She made a full recovery.
