Teenager caught rare rat-bite fever from pet rodents in her bedroom

A teenager was infected with the rare disease rat-bite fever from her pet rats living in her bedroom.

The 17-year-old was admitted to hospital after contracting the potentially deadly infection three weeks after one of her rats died.

She suffered with pain in her right hip and lower back that had continued for two days and led to immobility, according to the online journal BMJ Case Reports.

The teenager, who made a full recovery, had an intermittent fever, nausea and vomiting, and a pink rash on her hands and feet.

Her nausea and vomiting improved, but the fever continued, and she had tenderness of a joint in her pelvis, and pain in her right leg, the case report said.

The doctors learned that she had numerous pets including a dog, cat, horse and three pet rats.

The rodents lived in her bedroom, and one of these rats had died three weeks before the onset of her symptoms.

A blood test returned positive for Streptobacillus moniliformis - the most common cause of rat-bite fever.

Rat-bite fever has been reported in writings dating as far back as 2,300 years, and was originally described as a disease of the poor, but these days most cases occur in lab workers or in children with pet rodents.

The disease can have mortality as high as 13%, if left untreated.

The condition often goes unrecognised and undiagnosed - and only 200 cases of rat-bite fever have been recorded in the US since 1839.

Most cases of rat-bite fever involve a bite or scratch from a rodent, but there are several reports of infection without direct bacterial inoculation.

The patient underwent four weeks of antibiotics, and after five days, her rash and fever disappeared, and the joint pain in her pelvis improved over the following weeks, and she made a full recovery.