Pig Meat Leads To Life-Threatening Infection For American Man: Report

A Florida man in his 70s found himself in a medical crisis after unknowingly contracting a rare bacterial infection while handling and consuming feral pig meat in 2017. The infection, which went unnoticed for several years, eventually infiltrated the man's implanted defibrillator, putting his life in danger.

The man, who received the meat from a hunter, began experiencing symptoms that led to multiple hospital visits. Health officials and doctors in Florida have identified the infection as Brucella suis, a bacteria typically found in pigs. The case, detailed in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, describes how the infection caused serious complications, eventually requiring the removal of the man's chest implant. After identifying the bacterial cause, the man was successfully treated with antibiotics and is now recovering.

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Brucella suis infection is typical from feral swine exposure. Experts from the CDC describe this case as a case of B. suis cardiac implantable device infection in the man exposed to meat and blood from feral swine. The infection was diagnosed using culture, molecular diagnostics, and whole-genome sequencing. 

According to Science Alert, when doctors finally figured out what was going on, the insidious bacterial infection had already slipped into the man's defibrillator, passing through the chest wall, the left subclavian vein, and into the muscular tissue of his left ventricle. The safest option was to replace the medical device completely.Globally, brucellosis is the most common bacterial infection that spreads from animals to humans, and it is usually carried by cows, goats, sheep, and pigs.