Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Kache, Pallavi A
• Person, Marissa K
• Seeman, Sara M
• McQuiston, John R
• McCollum, Jeffrey
• Traxler, Rita M

Titel

Rat-Bite Fever in the United States: An Analysis Using Multiple National Data Sources, 2001–2015

Ist Teil von

• Open forum infectious diseases, 2020-06, Vol.7 (6), p.ofaa197-ofaa197

Ort / Verlag

US: Oxford University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2020

Quelle

EZB-FREE-00999 freely available EZB journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Abstract Background Rat-bite fever is a rare disease associated with rat bites or direct/indirect rodent contact. Methods We examined rat-bite fever and rat-bite injury diagnoses in the United States during 2001–2015. We analyzed national, state, and Indian Health Service healthcare encounter datasets for rat-bite fever and rat-bite injury diagnoses. We calculated average-annual encounter rates per 1 000 000 persons. Results Nationally, the rat-bite fever Emergency Department visit rate was 0.33 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.19–0.47) and the hospitalization rate was 0.20 (95% CI, 0.17–0.24). The rat-bite injury Emergency Department visit rate was 10.51 (95% CI, 10.13–10.88) and the hospitalization rate was 0.27 (95% CI, 0.23–0.30). The Indian Health Service Emergency Department/outpatient visit rate was 3.00 for rat-bite fever and 18.89 for rat-bite injury. The majority of rat-bite fever encounters were among individuals 0–19 years of age. Conclusions Our results support the literature that rat-bite fever is rare and affects children and young adults. Targeted education could benefit specific risk groups. Most rat-bite fever healthcare encounters were among children, young adults, and American Indian/Alaska Native populations. Although rare, rat-bite fever occurs at a higher rate than is demonstrated in existing literature. Targeted education could benefit specific risk groups.