Man Dies After Being Licked by His Dog

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On Nov.  27, 2019, a 63-year-old man in Germany who contracted a rare bacterial infection after being licked by his dog died, prompting doctors to caution pet owners to be aware of any unusual symptoms.

According to a new case report, the patient presented at Red Cross Hospital in Bremen, Germany only after three days of severe symptoms. Initially, he had experienced flu-like symptoms, including elevated temperature and difficulty breathing.


But the day before he went to hospital, his symptoms took a nosedive. A rash had bloomed on his face, and he was experiencing nerve and muscle pain in his legs. Closer examination revealed subcutaneous bleeding on his legs.


In addition, he had kidney injury and liver dysfunction, as well as hypoxia, lack of bloodflow to the muscles, and he wasn't urinating.


His medical team were at a loss - the patient didn't have the headache or stiff neck associated with meningitis, nor had he travelled anywhere he could have contracted an exotic infection.


The doctors diagnosed him with a severe blood infection caused by the body's immune response (sepsis) and purpura fulminans, a blood clotting disorder that causes skin discolourations (warning: graphic photo of the man's arm below).


He was treated with an antibiotic cocktail designed to cover Streptococci, Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenza and Staphylococcus aureus, but his symptoms continued to decline - he even went into cardiac arrest, but was successfully resuscitated. After that, he was intubated and put on a respirator.


It wasn't until the fourth day of his hospitalisation that the doctors finally isolated and identified the culprit: a bacterium called Capnocytophaga canimorsus.

This is not a rare microbe; in fact, it's a normal and healthy member of the gingival flora in cats and dogs around the world. It is only transmitted to humans very rarely, and then it is usually through dog bites to immunodeficient or otherwise compromised patients, such as alcoholics.


The man had not been bitten or otherwise injured by his dog, nor was he immunodeficient or otherwise compromised; in the weeks preceding his illness, his dog had only licked him. But in this case, it was enough.