TY - JOUR
T1 - Rat-Bite Fever Due to Streptobacillus moniliformis
T2 - A Case Series from New South Wales, Australia, and Literature Review
AU - Croker, Bethany A.
AU - Prudence, Alexander
AU - Wilson, Paul A.
AU - Givney, Rod
AU - O'Kane, Gabrielle
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Introduction Rat-bite fever due to Streptobacillus moniliformis is an uncommon infection, which seems to have been increasingly diagnosed in the Hunter New England-Central Coast area of New South Wales, Australia, in recent years. Method A case series was presented and a review of the literature since 2007 was performed. Results Our case series includes 11 patients with a median age of 27 years (range, 8-61 years), all of whom were diagnosed with bacteremia. All patients reported rat exposure, although only 4 of 11 were bitten. Common features included fever, rash, joint pains, headache, and vomiting. Patients were mostly treated with 2 to 4 weeks of antibiotic therapy; complications were rare with resolution of symptoms at last follow-up in most cases. There have been 87 patients with rat-bite fever described in the literature since 2007. Clinical findings were similar to our case series although complications, particularly endocarditis and septic arthritis, occurred in approximately a third of cases. Conclusions The case series and literature review of rat-bite fever describe a characteristic clinical picture with fever, arthritis, and rash; a history of rat exposure is supportive, and blood cultures with current laboratory techniques are usually diagnostic.
AB - Introduction Rat-bite fever due to Streptobacillus moniliformis is an uncommon infection, which seems to have been increasingly diagnosed in the Hunter New England-Central Coast area of New South Wales, Australia, in recent years. Method A case series was presented and a review of the literature since 2007 was performed. Results Our case series includes 11 patients with a median age of 27 years (range, 8-61 years), all of whom were diagnosed with bacteremia. All patients reported rat exposure, although only 4 of 11 were bitten. Common features included fever, rash, joint pains, headache, and vomiting. Patients were mostly treated with 2 to 4 weeks of antibiotic therapy; complications were rare with resolution of symptoms at last follow-up in most cases. There have been 87 patients with rat-bite fever described in the literature since 2007. Clinical findings were similar to our case series although complications, particularly endocarditis and septic arthritis, occurred in approximately a third of cases. Conclusions The case series and literature review of rat-bite fever describe a characteristic clinical picture with fever, arthritis, and rash; a history of rat exposure is supportive, and blood cultures with current laboratory techniques are usually diagnostic.
KW - rat-bite fever
KW - Streptobacillus moniliformis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111142882&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1097/IPC.0000000000001031
DO - 10.1097/IPC.0000000000001031
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85111142882
VL - 29
SP - E208-E214
JO - Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice
JF - Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice
SN - 1536-9943
IS - 4
ER -