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Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases logoLink to Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
. 1987 Oct;46(10):793–795. doi: 10.1136/ard.46.10.793

Rat-bite fever as a cause of septic arthritis: a diagnostic dilemma.

R L Rumley 1, N A Patrone 1, L White 1
PMCID: PMC1003391  PMID: 3689005

Abstract

Rat-bite fever results from an infection with the organism Streptobacillus moniliformis. Symptomatic patients often present with fever, malaise, cough, maculopapular rash, and occasional arthritis, and usually have a history of rodent exposure. This report describes a patient with rat-bite fever resulting in suppurative arthritis. The patient's diagnosis was made by culture of S moniliformis from his left wrist. The diagnosis was delayed, however, owing to the lack of an exposure history, atypical clinical presentation, and the unusual microbiologic characteristics shown by this organism.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Raffin B. J., Freemark M. Streptobacillary rat-bite fever: a pediatric problem. Pediatrics. 1979 Aug;64(2):214–217. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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