Horse Kick Victim Develops Rare Disease

A 79-year-old man who managed an animal sanctuary in England was trampled by his horses. He suffered cuts and bruises but otherwise seemed relatively unscathed. A week later, however, he was taken to the hospital because he was confused, feverish, and had a headache. The head wound he received from the incident appeared infected, and he was admitted to the hospital for meningitis (an infla
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A 79-year-old man who managed an animal sanctuary in England was trampled by his horses. He suffered cuts and bruises but otherwise seemed relatively unscathed. A week later, however, he was taken to the hospital because he was confused, feverish, and had a headache. The head wound he received from the incident appeared infected, and he was admitted to the hospital for meningitis (an inflammation of the tissue surrounding the brain). While hospitalized, the man had several seizures and developed left-sided neglect, in which a person ceases to be aware of a certain side of the body and stops using it. Neglect often occurs after a stroke or brain injury.

After several days, the doctors found the cause–Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus. The man received long-term intravenous antibiotics and recovered. Although rare, S. equi subspecies zooepidemicus can be transmitted from horses to people with dire consequences.

Over the last 30 years, there have been 21 human reports of meningitis due to S. equi subspecies zooepidemicus, according to David W. Eyre, MA, BM, BCh, MRCP, a physician at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, U.K.

"Contact with animals, especially horses and/or consuming unpasteurized dairy products, is associated with the condition," Eyre said. "The bacteria that caused the human infections are closely related to the bacteria that causes strangles in horses

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