Rats in the Crib
By Robert Latkany, MDEdited by Barbara Lock, MD
July 23, 2009
I was always a tad bit sensitive about my feet as a child. If even the smallest wisp of cotton were to touch the soles of my feet I would hit the ceiling. Even the thought of it now makes me cringe. After I read about the rats who ate the toes off of a baby, I realized that my anti-foot-fetish was probably not so bad after all.
It's true: the 18 year old father and another married couple were arrested for allowing a 6 week old baby girl have her toes eaten away by a rat in a trailer they all lived in Ohio. Aside from the obvious functional and cosmetic toeless deformity, the child’s rat bites could have lead to other serious illness. Rat-bite fever described by Dendle et al is an infection caused by Streptobacillus moniliformis or Spirillum minus and typically presents with a fever and aches in multiple joints, and is accompanied by a rash 25% of the time. Some form of surgery is required 30% of the time.
A review of the literature found that the majority of published cases of rat bites occur in older male diabetics with peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy is a condition in which the nerves in the hands and feet stop working properly; people who suffer from peripheral neuropathy can become injured in the hands or feet and not realize it until it turns in to a bigger problem.
Diabetes and alcoholism common causes of peripheral neuropathy. Abbas et al found 34 cases of rat bites in diabetics over a 5 year period in Tanzania. All cases were in type 2 diabetics with peripheral neuropathy, 62% were male and the median age was 55.5 years old. A delay in seeking medical attention usually led to gangrene and half of these patients underwent some form of amputation.
One bright spot for the little girl, rabies is extremely rare in rodents and the CDC advises that rabies prophylaxis is almost never required after a rat bite.
The child is reportedly recovering in fair condition at a Columbus, Ohio Hospital. But not all children fare so well. A 3 month old baby girl from Louisiana bled to death last week from over 100 rat bites in her crib. An ongoing investigation has yet to determine how and why this happened. I don’t know about you but I am wearing my boots tonight in bed.
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