Greg Manteufel a Wisconsin dog owner contracts a rare blood disease, after his pet dog licks him forcing the man to have all four limbs amputated.
A Wisconsin man has been forced to have all four limbs amputated after contracting a rare blood infection following his pet dog licking him.
The incident follows Greg Manteufel, 48, of West Bend, believing he had the flu and going to the hospital last month only to find out that his body was being ravaged by Capnocytophaga canimorsus, a type of bacteria found in the saliva of dogs and cats. It can in very rare cases, enter the bloodstream through their licks, bites or other close contact.
‘It hit him with a vengeance. Just bruising all over him,’ his wife, Dawn Manteufel told Fox 6 Now. ‘Looked like somebody beat him up with a baseball bat.’
Within a week, doctors told the husband they had to cut off his legs — as the disease, which caused Manteufel’s blood pressure to plummet and the circulation in his limbs to dramatically decrease.
‘Sometimes it decreases so much that the arms and legs just die,’ said Dr. Silvia Munoz-Price, an infectious disease specialist at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Doctors were eventually forced to amputate portions of his hands and then half of both forearms.
Greg Manteufel rare blood infection and even rarer odds….
‘We can’t wrap our heads around it… He’s been around dogs all of his life… and this happens,’ said Dawn Manteufel. ‘All he kept saying to the doctors — ‘take what you need but keep me alive,. And they did it.’
Doctor’s believe the bacteria that infected Manteufel came from his dog, Ellie.
‘More than 99 percent of the people that have dogs will never have this issue. It’s just chance,’ said Munoz-Price.
The family has set up a GoFundMe page to cover his many surgeries and prosthetic for his hands and legs — which he’ll be fitted for once he recovers from sepsis.
According to the Center for Disease Control, people with weakened immune systems are more at risk of contracting the rare bacteria. Also susceptible are heavy drinkers, those who have had their spleens removed, and those with HIV or cancer.
The bacteria can be spread to people through a bite or after close contact with dogs or cats. As many as 74 percent of dogs have the bacteria in their mouths. That number is 57 percent for cats.
