Denmark, December 15: A Danish man whose finger was bitten by a cat four years ago has died after he was infected by flesh eating bacteria. The man, Henrik Kriegbaum Plettner, had adopted a cat and her kittens from a shelter in 2018 and was bitten when he tried to move one of them.

Henrik thought nothing of it at the time. It was only when his finger started to swell up, he knew there was cause for concern and decided to visit a doctor when his finger had swollen to twice the size, reported dailymail.

Doctors operated him for 15 months in Denmark’s Kolding hospital, however four months after his operation there was little improvement in his finger and the doctors decided to amputate it. Flesh-Eating Bacteria Necrotizing Fasciitis Claims Life of 44-Year-Old Man in Kolkata, Know All About the Rare Infection

However, Henrik's health started to deteriorate because the cat had bitten right into a blood vessel. As Henrik's wound closed almost immediately after he had been bitten, the deadly bacteria entered the bloodstream through the vein and then started to spread throughout the body. Flesh Eating Bacteria Symptoms, Causes and Prevention: Know Everything About Necrotizing Fasciitis

Local media reported his mother as saying that Henrik had a weakened immune system, pneumonia, gout and diabetes.

Henrik died in October this year, four years after the initial bite from the cat, and the family have now gone public and requested others to take cat bites more seriously.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 15, 2022 09:01 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).