(THECOUNT) – A man who has spent his whole life around dogs was forced to have all four of his limbs amputated after he likely contracted an infection from the lick of a dog.
Greg Manteufel ended up in the emergency room with what he thought was the flu.
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“It hit him with a vengeance,” Dawn Manteufel, his wife, told the station. “Just bruising all over him. Looked like somebody beat him up with a baseball bat.”
However, after doctors conducted several tests, they discovered Manteufel had actually picked up a infection from the bacteria capnocytophaga, which is commonly found in dog and cat saliva. One study published in the National Institutes of Health found the bacteria present in 69 percent of dogs and 54 percent of cats.
Doctors believe he most likely contracted the bacteria by a lick from his own dog.
“This type of bacteria comes from the saliva of dogs. This infection in his blood triggered a very severe response on his body,” Dr. Silvia Munoz-Price, infectious disease specialist with Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin told Fox 6 Now. source
According to the Centers for Disease Control, it’s rare but possible for capnocytophaga to cause severe infections in people with weakened immune systems, and is spread through bites or close contact with infected dogs or cats.