Letting your dog lick your face can transmit nasty infections

Who knew? I certainly didn't.

Woman's pet dog gave her a life-threatening infection

Quote:

The furry creatures many of us call our best friend may harbor a bug that can, in rare cases, be life-threatening to humans, as one 70-year-old woman from England found out. Her unusual case is described in the medical journal BMJ Case Reports. The woman first developed slurred speech and became unresponsive. An ambulance rushed her to the hospital where she improved, but four days later she developed confusion, a headache, diarrhea and a high fever, and her kidneys began to fail. Blood tests revealed she had sepsis, or blood poisoning, which resulted in organ failure. For doctors, her dire condition presented a medical mystery. A battery of tests finally determined the culprit: a bacterium commonly found in the mouths of dogs and cats, called Capnocytophaga canimorsus.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/29ieEPg