男子被自己的狗舔過之後竟因細菌感染離世

A 63-year-old man in Germany who contracted a rare bacterial infection after being licked by his dog has died, prompting doctors to caution pet owners to be aware of any unusual symptoms.

德國一63歲男子在被自己的狗舔過之後因患上罕見的細菌感染離世，因此醫生提醒養寵物的人要注意所有不尋常的症狀。

According to a new case report, the patient presented at Red Cross Hospital in Bremen, Germany only after three days of severe symptoms. Initially, he had experienced flu-like symptoms, including elevated temperature and difficulty breathing.

新的病例報告顯示，這個患者在病情加重的三天後就來到了德國不來梅的紅十字會醫院。最初他有流感樣症狀，包括體溫升高、呼吸困難。

But the day before he went to hospital, his symptoms took a nosedive. A rash had bloomed on his face, and he was experiencing nerve and muscle pain in his legs. Closer examination revealed subcutaneous bleeding on his legs.

但就在他去醫院的前一天，病情惡化了。他臉上起了疹子，腿部神經和肌肉疼痛。進一步的檢查發現他的腿上有皮下出血。

In addition, he had kidney injury and liver dysfunction, as well as hypoxia, lack of bloodflow to the muscles, and he wasn't urinating.

其他症狀還有腎損傷和肝功能不全，以及缺氧、肌肉血流量不足，還不排尿。

His medical team were at a loss - the patient didn't have the headache or stiff neck associated with meningitis, nor had he travelled anywhere he could have contracted an exotic infection.

主治醫生們不知所措，因爲病人沒有腦膜炎引起的頭痛或頸部僵硬，也沒去過什麼會受到外部感染的地方。

The doctors diagnosed him with a severe blood infection caused by the body's immune response (sepsis) and purpura fulminans, a blood clotting disorder that causes skin discolourations (warning: graphic photo of the man's arm below).

醫生診斷他有身體免疫應答（敗血症）引起的嚴重血液感染，還有暴發性紫癜，這是一種凝血障礙，會導致皮膚變色（警告：下面是男子手臂的照片）。

He was treated with an antibiotic cocktail designed to cover Streptococci, Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenza and Staphylococcus aureus, but his symptoms continued to decline - he even went into cardiac arrest, but was successfully resuscitated. After that, he was intubated and put on a respirator.

他接受了一種抗生素混合物的治療，這種混合物可以對抗鏈球菌、腦膜炎奈瑟菌、流感嗜血桿菌和金黃色葡萄球菌。但他的病情持續惡化，甚至心臟驟停，後又被搶救過來了。後來他插管戴上了呼吸機。

It wasn't until the fourth day of his hospitalisation that the doctors finally isolated and identified the culprit: a bacterium called Capnocytophaga canimorsus.

到他入院治療的第四天醫生最終分離出並確認了病因：一種名爲犬噬菌體的細菌。

This is not a rare microbe; in fact, it's a normal and healthy member of the gingival flora in cats and dogs around the world. It is only transmitted to humans very rarely, and then it is usually through dog bites to immunodeficient or otherwise compromised patients, such as alcoholics.

這種微生物並不罕見，其實它是全世界貓和狗牙齦菌羣中正常存在的有益細菌。但它很少傳播給人類，通常是免疫功能有缺陷或受損的病人，如酗酒者，被狗咬傷之後纔會感染。

The man had not been bitten or otherwise injured by his dog, nor was he immunodeficient or otherwise compromised; in the weeks preceding his illness, his dog had only licked him. But in this case, it was enough.

該男子沒有被咬，也沒有被他的狗傷到，他免疫功能沒有缺陷，也沒有受損。在他生病前幾周他的狗只是舔了他，但就這個情況來看，就是這個原因了。

Over the days following his diagnosis, in spite of an adjusted treatment regime, his condition worsened. Multiple organs failed, and he contracted pneumonia. On the 16th day after admission, he died of severe septic shock.

在他確診後的幾天裏，儘管調整了治療方案，但他的情況還是惡化了。他多個器官衰竭，出現了肺炎。在入院後的第16天，他死於嚴重的敗血性休克。

"Pet owners with flu-like symptoms should urgently seek medical advice when their symptoms exceed those of a simple viral infection, which in this case were severe dyspnoea [difficulty breathing] and petechiae [red rash caused by broken blood vessels]," the researchers wrote in their case report.

研究人員在病例報告中寫道：“有流感樣症狀的寵物主人發現症狀不是單純病毒感染時應該及時就醫，這個病例中的症狀是嚴重的呼吸困難和紫斑（血管破裂引起的紅疹）。”