A car crash involving a deer left a 39-year-old man in Germany with more than just cuts and bruises. Days after the accident, he began developing symptoms of a rare bacterial infection. The man was driving when a roe deer was struck by another vehicle and then crashed through his windscreen. He suffered cuts to his face from the broken glass and the impact with the animal.
The accident also exposed his wounds to the deer's blood, bodily fluids and soil.
About a week later, the man developed fever-like symptoms, a skin lesion near his left eye and swelling under his jaw. Doctors later found that the lymph nodes in his neck were inflamed.
Despite being given antibiotics, his condition continued to worsen.
About a month after the crash, scans showed several large abscesses on the side of his face. Doctors had to surgically drain them.
Tests on the fluid from the abscesses finally revealed the cause. The man had been infected with Francisella tularensis, the bacterium that causes tularemia, also known as rabbit fever.
Doctors believe the deer was infected and that the man's contact with its blood and other bodily fluids allowed the bacteria to enter his wounds.
The infection can be serious and, in some cases, can be fatal. However, the man responded quickly after doctors switched him to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin.
Three months after the accident, the abscesses had largely disappeared and he was mostly recovered, although he still had some minor facial discomfort.
Tularemia is a relatively rare infection. The case highlights an unusual risk that can follow contact with infected wild animals, particularly when their blood or bodily fluids come into contact with open wounds.
The case was reported in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
