A SKIN-BLISTERING fungal infection typically found in cats has been discovered in a human.
The vet in Kansas, US, picked up the disease after she was scratched by a pet cat.
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Graphic images show how the medic was left with sores that extended up her arm.
Sharing details of the event in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, US scientists called for more awareness of the feline disease, which can be passed on to humans.
The incident started in August 2022 when a cat was brought into an animal clinic in Kansas with an ulcer on its paw.
At first, vets thought the sore was a common bacterial bug and treated it with antibiotics.
Read more on fungal diseases
But the lesions continued to get worse and spread up its legs and onto other body parts.
Further tests revealed the cat had picked up a sporothrix fungal infection.
The disease, which originates from the soil, can be spread to humans through plants or a bite or scratch from an infected animal.
At a follow-up appointment in November, the cat managed to puncture a veterinary technician’s glove and scratch her skin.
The open wound came into direct contact with contaminated lesions on the cat’s paws.
Two weeks later, an ulcer had emerged on the site where the cat scratched and quickly spread up her arm.
This was the third human case in the US, but infections are far more common in South America, where the bug is rife.
The vet tech took an antifungal for eight months, and her infection cleared.
The cat also got an antifungal, but she eventually got sicker, and her owners decided to be euthanised.
Several months later, a second cat from the same household also got sick but recovered soon after.
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Where does the infection come from?
The specific fungus that caused the lesions, Sporothrix schenckii, is typically found in tropical climates, particularly in soil and decaying plants.
When cats are infected, however, they carry a very high fungal load.
This means their wounds are at a higher risk of spreading the infection to other cats, dogs, and people, Ian Hennessee, an epidemic intelligence officer at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said.
“They get these awful wounds on their face, in their nasal cavities and on their paws, and those lesions are full of these fungi,” he told NBC News.
It’s generally caught from plants that can cut the skin like rose thorns, which is why it’s sometimes nicknamed “rose gardener’s disease.”
The CDC is currently monitoring a fungus called sporothrix brasiliensis, which is much more contagious.
Cases in the UK
The was recently spotted in the UK in a case involving a 63-year-old woman, her 30-year-old daughter, and a veterinarian in his late 20s.
All three had been in contact with a domestic cat that the mother and daughter, originally from Brazil, had rescued and brought to the UK three years prior.
In the vet’s case, it caused ulcers on her fingers at first, which, if they had gone untreated, could have led to tissue death.
Despite suffering lesions either on their arms or fingers that left them seeking medical treatment, all three made a full recovery.
Cat-transmitted cases of fungal infections from sporothrix are rare in the US.
‘Increased awareness’ is necessary
The rate of fungal infections in the US is difficult to know because there is no national surveillance.
The scientists added: “Increased awareness of sporotrichosis in cats and the potential for zoonotic transmission could help veterinary professionals more quickly recognize and treat feline cases and take precautions to prevent human acquisition in the veterinary setting.”
Wounds from scratches or bites from infected cats should be washed immediately, and people who come in contact “should seek health care promptly.”
It comes as experts warn fungal infections are becoming a huge threat to public health.
Since the Covid pandemic, medics have noticed an increase in deadly fungal diseases among hospitalised patients.
Many fungal pathogens, including candida which causes common infections like vaginal thrush, are becoming increasingly resistant to treatment.
What are the symptoms of sporotrichosis?
The symptoms of sporotrichosis depend on where the fungus is growing in the body
It usually affects the skin or tissues underneath the skin.
Symptoms begin with small painless bumps under the skin near the part of the body exposed to the fungus.
The bumps will eventually grow larger and may look like an open sore or ulcer that is very slow to heal.
The infection, which is usually mild, can also affect the bones and joints
In severe cases – more common in people with weakened immune systems – it can affect the lungs and central nervous system.
Source: CDC