Latest news with #B.suis
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Man Develops Life-Threatening Infection After Eating Feral Pig
A Florida man in his 70s contracted an extremely rare, life-threatening infection in his implanted defibrillator after eating a feral pig in 2017. Before cooking and consuming the gift from a local hunter, the man remembers handling the raw meat with bare hands. Experts suspect it was at this moment that he was unknowingly exposed to a sneaky bacterium, Brucella suis. Years later, the man began experiencing feverish symptoms, intermittent pain, excess fluid, and a hardening of the skin on the left side of his chest, according to a case study, led by infectious disease specialist Jose Rodriguez from the University of Florida. When doctors finally figured out what was going on, the insidious bacterial infection had already slipped into the man's defibrillator, passing through the chest wall, the left subclavian vein, and into the muscular tissue of his left ventricle. The safest option was to replace the medical device completely. Globally, brucellosis is the most common bacterial infection that spreads from animals to humans, and it is usually carried by cows, goats, sheep, and pigs. Infections of B. suis and its close relatives are tricky to treat because they can hide inside immune cells for years on end, causing only mild, feverish symptoms that come and go at random. Since the bacteria are hard to isolate and grow in the lab and easily misidentified, as occurred in this case, blood tests don't always pick them out. Defibrillators are a perfect place for Brucella bacteria to hide. Antibiotics are difficult to deliver to these implants because of their limited blood supply, which means that if infected, taking out the whole device is often the only way to ensure proper treatment. While severe and life-threatening, a Brucella infection of a defibrillator is extremely rare. In a 30-year review of 5,287 patients with a defibrillator, only one patient had a Brucella infection requiring complete device and lead removal with antibiotic therapy. A series of unfortunate events led to the Florida man's diagnosis. In the spring of 2019, long after the man had handled raw pig meat, he began experiencing uncomfortable symptoms on the left side of his chest. The unfortunate fellow, who also suffers from type 2 diabetes and heart failure, was admitted to the hospital several times that year, where he was treated with a whole host of antibiotics. His blood cultures revealed an infection with a different bacterium from B. suis, and an ultrasound of his heart showed his defibrillator had migrated to the left chest wall, just below the nipple. In 2020, his symptoms persisted, so the man sought treatment once again at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Gainesville, Florida. While doctors could find no outward sign of bacteria on his defibrillator's valves or leads, they were concerned by the possibility of an overlooked infection, and so they decided to take the automated implant out of his body. Lab analysis later confirmed the device was contaminated by B. suis. The previous bacterium was a misidentification. "Substantial delays between Brucella exposure and clinical symptoms have been previously reported in patients with cardiac implantable electronic device infections," write the authors of the case study. "In this case, the intermittent use of antibiotics with device retainment likely led to a prolonged clinical course." After six weeks of taking two antibiotics, the man's infection was patient was outfitted with a new defibrillator four months after his old one was removed. Now, more than three years later, his blood shows no clinical evidence of brucellosis. His story is a cautionary tale to all who partake in eating unpasteurized dairy products or wild animals. In the US, feral swine (Sus scrofa) are the principal carriers of B. suis, as livestock are often vaccinated against these infections. Today, there are more than a million feral pigs living in Florida, which suggests the infection may be endemic to some parts of the nation. The study was published in Emerging Infectious Diseases. Scientists Finally Identified Where Gluten Reactions Start How Often You Should Wash Your Exercise Clothes, According to Science High-Protein And Fiber Diet Linked to Longer, Better Sleep, Study Finds
Miami Herald
21-03-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
Pastor's heart implant infection caused by feral pig meat gift, Florida doctors say
More than four years after a 77-year-old man walked into a Florida hospital with pain in his chest, a new report says preparing and eating feral pig meat was the likely cause of the man's yearslong infection. The man went to the Malcom Randall Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Gainesville in fall 2020 seeking help for chest pain, but his health problems started much earlier, doctors said in a case report published March 12 in the peer-reviewed journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. The man, who worked as a pastor, was being treated for type 2 diabetes and heart failure, and previously had a biventricular automated implantable cardiac defibrillator placed on his heart, according to the report. He first sought help for the unusual pain in his chest in spring 2019, doctors said, and he had hardened tissue on the left side of his chest, as well as swelling from excess fluid. Doctors suspected an infection of his heart implant and started courses of antibiotics, according to the report. The pastor continued the course of treatment for six months before the side effects became too great and he stopped treatment. For a few months, he was fine, doctors said. But, eventually the chest pain returned, this time accompanied by a fever and his implant had migrated within his chest. The pastor went to a hospital in Alabama for treatment, but blood testing for infection was negative, and the man was discharged. By fall of 2020, he was in the hospital in Gainesville for most testing, doctors said, and this time blood tests revealed a bacterial infection. Doctors removed his heart implant and sent it, along with the fluid found in its pocket, to the Florida Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing, according to the report. The results came back as a Brucella suis infection, which causes a rare bacterial disease in humans and is spread by animals, according to the CDC. The pastor lived on a farm in rural Florida that kept dogs outside and had a group of goats, according to the report, but the man wasn't involved in their care. Previous cases of B. suis infections have been identified in Florida wild pig hunters, so doctors asked the pastor if he hunted pigs. 'He confirmed no hunting activities but recalled receiving feral swine meat as a gift from a local hunter around 2017 on several occasions,' doctors said. 'He did not remember who specifically gave him the meat but recalled handing the raw meat and blood with bare hands before cooking and consuming it. This encounter likely served as his exposure to B. suis.' Brucella bacteria have a long 'incubation period,' which is the time between when someone might be exposed to the bacteria and when they may start exhibiting symptoms of infection, according to the CDC. In some cases, symptoms of a Brucella infection may not appear for weeks or months after someone has been exposed. Brucellosis, the disease caused by Brucella bacteria, can manifest as fever, headaches, joint pain, muscle pain, fatigue, anorexia and weight loss, meningitis or specific organ conditions, according to the CDC. The condition can be treated with antibiotics. 'Depending on the timing of treatment and severity of illness, recovery may take a few weeks to several months,' according to the CDC. 'Though the infection can last a long time, brucellosis rarely causes death. It's estimated that no more than 2% of all people with brucellosis die from their infection.' The pastor was treated with an antibiotic regimen for 6 weeks, then his heart implant was replaced four months after it was initially removed, according to the report. Three years later, there was no sign of brucellosis in his follow-up appointment. 'More than 1 million feral swine live in Florida and can carry zoonoses that include leptospirosis, trichinella and toxoplasmosis,' doctors said. 'Feral swine hunters are at risk of contracting B. suis, and measures to reduce that risk include the use of personal protective equipment and thoroughly cooking animal products before consumption.'
