Man dies after he gets bitten by his pet cat

A paper recently published in the World Journal of Clinical Cases highlights a surprisingly rare case where a man dies after being bit by his pet cat.

The Canadian man who the paper describes, visited a hospital appearing in ill health with vague abdominal pains and frequent wheezing. He had fallen down the stairs in his home and had also been nipped in the thumb by his cat.

The man died two weeks later after septic shock shut down his vital organs.

According to the Vancouver Sun, "...tests on pieces removed from the aorta wall found the culprit: infection by Pasteurella multocida, bacteria common in pets' mouths and most often spread by the bite of felines..."

Dr. Dennis Cho, who co-authored the new study, advises anyone bitten by an animal to get a preventive course of antibiotics.

"There is a whole host of places where these bacteria can latch onto, which is why it's kind of a scary thing. The long-term consequences are not recognized and probably under-detected," Cho said in an interview.