This real-life mutant sewer rat proved to be significantly less amicable than the cartoon version that lives in the sewers of New York City with his four turtle sons.
After sinking its fangs into a Canadian man’s palm, a toilet-dwelling mouse infected him with organ failure and sepsis.
The 76-year-old man was attempting to remove the rat from his toilet when the furry rodent nipped two of his fingers.
He visited the emergency room, received basic wound care and a tetanus booster, and then left.
But 18 days later, the septuagenarian was back in the emergency room. According to a report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, he had been suffering from a variety of symptoms, including fever, headaches, and abdominal pain, for three days.
Medical testing revealed that he had a rapid heart rate, low blood pressure, and kidney damage. The intensive care unit received him after he showed signs of multi-organ failure and sepsis.
While his bite wound had mostly healed, physicians felt it had anything to do with his declining health.
After conducting blood and urine tests, they found that the man had leptospirosis, a bacterial infection that animals like rats commonly transmit to humans and that, in rare, severe cases, can be fatal.
The bacteria is present in animal pee, and doctors believe the rat may have had a mouthful of the contaminated urine when he bit the Canadian’s fingers, allowing the bacteria to enter his body, according to the story.
Approximately 1 million cases of leptospirosis worldwide result in death every year. According to the study, bacterial infections cause mortality rates ranging from 5 to 15%.
After receiving antibiotics and steroids, the Canadian man left the intensive care unit after three days.
