Capnocytophaga Awareness And Importance

[sososo]

I am making this post today in order to let anyone know to be careful when having open wounds around your dogs, cats too, potentially all animals except dolphins, since dolphins live in salt water where most, if not all bacteria die within 24 hours. Anyways, although dogs/cats do have good intentions when licking your wound, and will probably try to help you deal with the bleeding, do not let them lick any open wounds you may potentially have due to the germ known as Capnocytophaga which is very deadly with a 30% mortality rate, although it does have a low contraction rate, so dont panic too much if your dog happens to lick said open wound.

HOWEVER: Please note that this infection is rare, even if a dog does lick an open wound or bites past the skin, but if either of these things happen, set up a doctors appointment, or better yet just rush to the doctor immediately to seek medical attention and get the proper medication handed to you before going back home. I really dont mean to fear monger or anything but I dont want either you or your partners to suffer just because of an accidental infection that could have been totally avoided. Stay safe everyone!

For those wondering, here are the symptoms (however, never let any of these set in as you have a very short time period to live after these start to come into effect at all, unless were talking about the symptoms that usually come in immediately anyways within an hour of the bite which is #1 or #2 on this list. However if any of these set in, you have been minorly infected and cannot allow it to spread throughout your body further):

- Blisters around the bite wound within hours of the bite
- Redness, swelling, draining pus, or pain at the bite wound
- Fever
- Diarrhea and/or stomach pain
- Vomiting
- Headache and/or confusion
- Finally, Muscle or joint pain

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/capnocytophaga/signs-symptoms/index.html

Edit: Some more interesting facts: around 74% of dogs and 57% of cats and an amount of humans (no percentages provided here) as well carry Capnocytophaga in their mouths, and scientists consider it a normal oral flora (which is what leads me to believe that most, if not all surface life carries it as well). This article actually goes really in depth about it: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dog-lick-bacteria-risks_n_5b64a9e6e4b0b15abaa2ff70

 

[sososo]

Another note: Dont be scared about going to the doctors office because you may infect someone else. The disease is only contractible through open wounds, so put a bandaid on it and go.

 

[petite-pony]

Thanks so much for the info about something many people might not know enough about .

 

[ZTHorse]

https://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/files/2008/04/M1-Capnocytophaga.pdf

I did a quick search for the number of cases, and there is less than 200 cases worldwide since 1976 to the date of this document. Its extremely unlikely to happen unless you have a compromised immune system.

 

[sososo]

https://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/files/2008/04/M1-Capnocytophaga.pdf

I did a quick search for the number of cases, and there is less than 200 cases worldwide since 1976 to the date of this document. Its extremely unlikely to happen unless you have a compromised immune system.

That is true, although its estimated there may be more cases than just 200 since 1976 since its hard to actually report since its such a quick killing bacterium. Nontheless, even if its rare or not its important we keep note of this illness