Man loses hands, feet and nose after being licked by dog
A man lost parts of his hands, feet and nose after being licked by a dog and contracting a rare bacterial infection.
Greg Manteufel, 48, went to the hospital on June 27 after he began exhibiting flu-like symptoms and, within hours of being admitted, he went into septic shock
Through a blood test, doctors diagnosed the Wisconsin resident with an infection caused by Capnocytophaga canimorsus, a bacteria often found in dog and cat saliva.
“I’ve been basically [the] healthiest person in the world so far up to this point,” Mr Manteufel told local outlet WFSB.
“They said I could have hit the lottery five times in a row in one day before I should have gotten this bacteria in my body.”
Doctors discovered a bacteria normally found in a dog’s mouth, Capnocytophaga canimorsus, in Mr Manteufel’s blood stream.
Medics are not certain, but have speculated that the man fell ill from a dog lick possibly from his 8-year-old pit bill.
While he recovered from the infection, he developed a complication called disseminated intravascular coagulation. This led to poor blood flow and tissue death in his feet, arms and nose parts of which were later amputated.
Dr Silvia Munoz-Price, an infectious disease specialist with Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin, told WITI that Mr Manteufel’s case is an extremely rare occurrence and that pet owners need not panic.
“More than 99 percent of the people that have dogs will never have this issue. It’s just chance,” she told the station.
Mr Manteufel will need plastic surgery to rebuild his nose as well as prosthetics for his hands and feet, according to a GoFundMe page for his medical costs. Currently, the page has raised over $240,000.
