This is a rare fungal disease. It is called sporotrichosis and it affects humans, cats and other mammals. It is therefore zoonotic meaning it can be transferred from animal to human which is exactly what happened in a recent case in the state of Kansas, USA. A vet tech was handling a cat that was badly suffering from a sporotrichosis infection and she caught the disease herself after she was scratched through a medical glove. She is the third American to suffer from this rare and serious disease.
RELATED: Information and infographic on SPOROTRICHOSIS a fungal infection in cats which is spreading
She had to take antifungal medication for eight months before the lesions on her arm healed. The cat had to be euthanised because the disease has spread to other parts of her body. I can’t show the picture of the cat because advertisers won’t like it.
Sporothrix schenckii is normally found in tropical climates. It resides in soil and decaying plants. When it comes into contact with an animal is causes sporotrichosis. It enters through breaks in the skin or puncture wounds.
In the case of the vet tech, she was scratched and it caused ulcers on her fingers at first. They were treated but if they weren’t it could have led to tissue death.
CDC in America say that:
‘Sporotrichosis usually affects the skin or tissues underneath the skin. The first symptom…is usually a small, painless bump that can develop any time from 1 to 12 weeks after exposure to the fungus. The bump can be red, pink, or purple, and usually appears on the finger, hand, or arm where the fungus has entered through a break in the skin. The bump will eventually grow larger and may look like an open sore or ulcer that is very slow to heal.’
It is rare as stated; thankfully. It looks horrendously serious. To take antifungal treatment for eight months is quite an undertaking. And as mentioned it proved fatal for a ginger tabby cat. Some people can get it simply by touching an infected cat. The person then touches their face and it can spread from there.
This disease normally occurs in South America.
UK cases
The study found that there are three human cases of this disease in the UK.
One of these cases involved a 63-year-old woman. Her 30-year-old daughter was also infected and a veterinarian. All three had been in contact with a nine-year-old male domestic cat that the mother and daughter had rescued in Brazil and imported the cat into the UK three years prior to the mother and daughter contracting the infection.
There were treated with itraconazole, and antifungal which completely resolved the infection. It is typically non-fatal in humans but if left untreated it can lead to “whole-body inflammation” and it can infect the organs. People with a weakened immune system are more at risk.
It is a disease which is worth thinking about. The commonly known fungal disease affecting cats is ringworm which is also a zoonosis. It is very persistent and very contagious. It is not anywhere near as dangerous as sporotrichosis.
