Healthy man dies after being licked by dog and getting rare infection, researchers found

Joshua Bote | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Why you shouldn't let your dog lick your face Dog kisses are sweet, but they may make you sick. Here's how.

A German man who was licked by his dog died after contracting a rare bacteria, German researchers said.

The 63-year-old, who was otherwise healthy, was hospitalized with fever, severe difficulty breathing, blood spots on his skin and pain in his legs, according to a paper published in the peer-reviewed European Journal of Case Reports in Internal Medicine.

“He had been touched and licked, but not bitten or injured, by his dog, his only pet, in previous weeks,” doctors from Red Cross Hospital in Bremen, Germany, noted in the report.

Over the next 30 hours, the report says, the man developed encephalopathy, brain damage and paralytic ileus, or paralysis of the intestine. He suffered cardiac arrest.

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After 16 days of intensive treatment, the patient died.

The man’s death was caused by capnocytophaga canimorsus, a rare bacteria that naturally occurs in dog and cat mouths and is most commonly transmitted through dog bites.

Individuals with a weak immune system or a history of alcoholism or who have had their spleens removed are especially vulnerable to the infection, researchers said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the infection is more likely to take place in individuals older than 40.

A Wisconsin man's legs, hands and nose were amputated after he was licked by a dog in 2018. In 2016, a BMJ medical report found a greyhound owner who made a full recovery after two weeks of intensive care.

The doctors wrote that this man had trouble breathing. They advised physicians to ask about contact with pets if a patient comes to them with unusual symptoms.

Contributing: Ashley May, USA TODAY. Follow Joshua Bote on Twitter: @joshua_bote