Did you know that up to 90% of healthy cats have an aggressive bacterium called Pasteurella multocida? If you are bitten by a cat, you are likely to get an infection from this bacterium. If they bite you, it is usually in the hand. Nicholas Bakalar writes about a research study:
Redness, swelling, increasing pain, difficulty in moving the hand and drainage from the wound are all signs that there may be an infection and that treatment should be sought,” said the senior author of the study, Dr. Brian T. Carlsen, a hand surgeon at the Mayo Clinic.
“The tendon sheaths and joints are superficial in the hand, and cat bites penetrate easily, seeding those spaces with the germ, ” he added. “Once it’s in there, it can grow quite rapidly in fluid-filled spaces that don’t have blood circulation, and surgery is often required. That’s an important message: don’t ignore a cat bite.”
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