Aussie woman first to survive rare bacterial infection commonly seen in cattle
Handling gardening soil with her cat-scratched hands was the likely route of infection, say doctors.
An Australian woman who developed necrotising enterocolitis after handling soil has become the first person to survive a bacterial infection more commonly seen in cattle and sheep, doctors report.
The 58-year-old presented to a Sydney hospital after a three-day history of nausea and vomiting, plus two days of worsening lower abdominal pain on her right side.
She also developed diarrhoea soon after her presentation, and her right iliac fossa was “extremely tender” on palpation, her doctors wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia.
“She denied sick contacts and recent overseas travels but recalled a prolonged handling of gardening soil with bare hands while having multiple superficial skin lacerations acquired from a domestic cat.”
