Герман улсад зэрлэг амьтантай мөргөлдсөн ослын дараа өвчтөнд илэрсэн халдварт өвчний тохиолдлыг The Lancet Infectious Diseases сэтгүүлд нийтэллээ.
Осол болсны дараа 39 настай эрэгтэй нүүрний шарх авсан бөгөөд тухайн үед түүний шарханд амьтны цус, дотор эрхтэн болон хөрсний бохирдол орсон байна. Ослын дараах долоо хоногт өвчтөнд халуурах шинж тэмдэг илэрч, нүдний орчимд гэмтэл, эрүүний доор хавдар үүсчээ. Эмнэлгийн шинжилгээгээр хүзүүний тунгалгийн булчирхай үрэвсэж, сарын дараа нүүрний хэсэгт олон тооны идээт үрэвсэл (абсцесс) үүссэн тул мэс заслын аргаар эмчилгээ хийсэн байна.
Шинжилгээгээр уг өвчтөн Francisella tularensis бактериар халдварласан болохыг тогтоосон бөгөөд энэ нь “туулай халуун” буюу туляреми өвчнийг үүсгэдэг нян юм. Судлаачдын таамаглаж буйгаар, уг эрэгтэй мөргөлдсөн зэрлэг амьтны бие махбодоос халдвар авсан байх магадлалтай аж. Өвчтөнд ципрофлоксацин бүлгийн антибиотик эмчилгээг хийсний үр дүнд гурван сарын дараа биеийн байдал нь сайжирч, идээт үрэвслүүд алга болсон байна.
Туляреми нь АНУ-д сүүлийн арван жилд нэмэгдэж байгаа ч нийт хүн амын дунд харьцангуй ховор тохиолддог халдварт өвчин юм. 2011-2022 оны хооронд 2,500 хүрэхгүй тохиолдол бүртгэгдсэн энэхүү бактерийг АНУ-ын эрх баригчид аюултайд тооцон тусгай хяналтад байлгадаг. Уг нян нь үхэлд хүргэх эрсдэлтэй төдийгүй биологийн зэвсэг болгон ашиглах боломжтой талаар түүхэн баримтуудад дурдагдсан байдаг.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
It’s estimated that more than a million vehicle collisions with deer occur in the US every year.
While the vast majority of these incidents don’t involve harm to humans, around 60,000 cases each year result in people being injured, and the accidents cause hundreds of deaths annually.
Sometimes, however, the true danger doesn’t reveal itself until after the collision, as an unusual case study from Germany reports.
The patient in this case was a 39-year-old man who sustained facial lacerations after his car collided with a roe deer (Capreolus capreolus).
During the accident, it seems the deer was first struck by another oncoming vehicle before crashing through the patient’s windshield, with the man being injured by both shattered glass and the impact with the deer’s ruptured body.
“Animal blood, bodily fluids from eviscerated organs (eg, intestines), and soil contaminated his wounds,” his medical team notes in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
By about a week later, the man had developed fever-like symptoms and had a lesion around his left eye, along with swelling on his neck underneath the jawline.
Days after that, an ultrasound scan revealed inflamed lymph nodes in his neck, and despite treatment with an antibiotic, the swelling progressed.
A month after the accident, additional scans revealed multiple abscesses on the side of the man’s face, which required surgical drainage.
Subsequent testing of the abscess fluid revealed signs of an infection with Francisella tularensis, a bacterium that causes the disease tularemia, aka ‘rabbit fever’, which has surged in the US over the last decade.
Presumably, in this case, the deer had been infected, and contact with the deer and its blood during the collision infected the patient.
Fortunately for the patient, once F. tularensis had been identified as the likely source of his mysterious illness, administration of a different antibiotic, ciprofloxacin, led to a rapid improvement in his condition.
By three months after the accident, his abscesses had gone down, and the patient was mostly healthy, although still experiencing some minor facial tension.
Related: ‘Rabbit Fever’ in Humans Has Surged in The Last Decade, CDC Reports
While tularemia does appear to be increasing in the US, it’s still a relatively rare infection, amounting to fewer than 2,500 documented cases in the years 2011–2022, representing about one positive case among every 200,000 people.
But just because it’s rare doesn’t mean it’s harmless. Infection with F. tularensis can sometimes be fatal.
Due to its potential dangers to human health – and specifically its capacity for bioterrorism – the bacterium is monitored by the US government as a Tier 1 agent/toxin, and has long been studied for its military potential as a biological weapon.
Going even further back into history, it’s been suggested that the intentional spreading of tularemia in what is now Türkiye roughly 3,300 years ago constituted the first use of a weaponized biological agent in human history, although there’s little evidence to verify the hypothesis.
Still, not something you want to run into if you can avoid it.
The findings are reported in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
This article was fact-checked by Rachel Garner and edited by Rebecca Dyer. While we pride ourselves on our process, we are only human. If you spot a mistake, please let us know.
