A 23-year-old man was left unable to get an erection after he was scratched by a cat, a bizarre case study has revealed.
The unidentified patient, from Belgium, was injured by the claws of a feline in his own home - but it is unknown how.
As
well as the inability to make love, he endured pain in his testicles, a
fever and intense sweating at night before visiting hospital.
Doctors
discovered he had 'cat-scratch disease' after various tests. It is
caused by bacteria called Bartonella henselae found in the mouth and
claws of cats.
It causes
fever, fatigue, headaches, and swollen lymph nodes. In extreme cases it
can even cause deadly brain swelling and heart infections.
A course of antibiotics cleared up the infection and the man's erection returned.
The unidentified patient, from Belgium, was scratched by a cat in his own home (stock)
Why did it cause erectile dysfunction?
The infection's link to erectile dysfunction has been relatively scarce until the new case, revealed by doctors in BMJ Case Reports.
They
were unable to state how the bug caused his loss in erection ability,
however, pointed to previous cases that triggered facial paralysis.
They said this same biological mechanism could have triggered his erectile dysfunction and testicular pain.
On further questioning, it was confirmed that the patient was recently scratched by a young cat at home, experts wrote.
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