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An eight-year-old American woman was almost dead because of her beloved pet rat, having contracted an illness that killed a boy a few years ago.
according to NBC NewsThe girl, known as Cali, is suffering from a condition called rat bite fever, which causes high temperature, chills, swollen glands, rashes and joint pains.
Cali's mother, Sabrina, said her daughter was "on the brink of death" a week ago, with a fever of 40 degrees Celsius, a generalized rash and joints so painful that she was unable to to walk.
123RF
An eight-year-old girl is about to die after contracting a rat bite fever in her rodent
"It was really scary and hard to watch," said Sabrina. "We could not even touch her because she was very hurt."
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Cali is currently recovering at the Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, which has witnessed three cases of rat bite fever over the past six years.
In 2013, a 10-year-old boy died of the disease less than two weeks after acquiring his domestic rat.
Rat bites fever is an infection caused by bacteria found in the mouth of rodents.
Despite the name, it is not necessary to be bitten to contract the disease – people can be infected simply by manipulating or cuddling rats. Cali would apparently not have been bitten, but saliva or infectious urine would have entered his system through another skin lesion.
If they are treated early enough, antibiotics are usually effective in curing the disease.
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