By Luke Andrews Health Reporter For Dailymail.Com
17:35 27 Oct 2023, updated 17:49 27 Oct 2023
A ‘healthy’ woman in Texas suffered from violent diarrhea for months after catching a bacterial infection from her pet cat.
The 31-year-old, from Houston, was diagnosed with C. diff, a highly contagious infection that throws the digestive system off balance and leads to painful inflammation in the colon.
It is usually caused by coming into contact with contaminated surfaces or contact with infected people. But when the woman’s symptoms did not subside after two months despite taking medication, doctors began investigating further.
They worked out that she had adopted a stray cat about a month before her symptoms started – and decided to test the animal.
It has always been theorized that animals could pass the infection to humans, but it’s never been proven.
Swabs revealed that both the woman and the cat were infected with the same strains of C. diff.
The cat had no symptoms of the illness. The woman was otherwise healthy, did not smoke, drink alcohol socially and only had one male sexual partner.
The case was revealed in the American Journal of Case Reports, with doctors warning it was a reminder of the risks posed by household pets.
The woman first came to doctors complaining of severe diarrhea four times a day and a fever which she had been suffering for a week.
Doctors kept her in hospital for two days and gave her antibiotics before she was discharged.
Statistics show about 500,000 Americans are infected with C. difficile every year, with two-thirds of these cases linked to care homes.
It kills 15,000-30,000 people each year in the US.
Anyone can be infected, but the majority of cases happen when patients are taking antibiotics, or shortly after they finish their course.
This is because antibiotics disrupt the bacteria in the gut.
Those 65 and older who have stayed at hospital or nursing home recently are most at risk.
Immunosuppressed individuals are also more at risk.
Symptoms include stomach aches, loss of appetite, feeling nauseous, diarrhea and a fever
It can be ingested as spores and survive the acid in the stomach to reach the intestines, where it starts to grow out of control and release toxins causing damage to cells.
Symptoms begin five to ten days after infection and initially appear to be similar to food poisoning — although they persist.
In serious cases, it can lead to life-threatening dehydration caused by severe diarrhea from the infection.
Studies suggest up to 20 percent of patients die from a C. difficile infection within 30 days of diagnosis, although the disease is much more common in older adults with weaker immune systems.
The disease can also cause damage to cells in the colon raising the risk that they will become cancerous and colon cancer will emerge.
Cats can become infected from C. difficile via contact with soil contaminated with the feces of other animals.
They can also be infected via ingesting contaminated food and from veterinary clinics and animal shelters where they are in close proximity to other animals.
Dogs can pick up the bacteria in the same ways.
Cats can then get spores from the bacteria onto their fur when they clean themselves or they can be present in their feces.
Humans can pick these up via stroking the animal or when cleaning their litter trays, causing an infection.
Antibiotics are used to treat C. difficile infections.
