Man Hospitalized With Erectile Dysfunction After Being Scratched by His Pet Cat

A 23-year-old Belgian man finally made his way into the emergency room after five days of experiencing a fever, chills and night sweats. He also reported intense pain in his lower back and pelvis, as well as his penis and testicles, too, doctors reported in BMJ Case Reports.

He couldn’t stop losing weight, it hurt to pee and he was also struggling with erectile dysfunction.

All in all, he wasn’t doing well.

Doctors noticed that the lymph nodes below his left armpit were swollen. When blood tests showed elevated levels of inflammation, an abdominal ultrasound showed an enlarged spleen, and a PET-CT scan showed enlarged lymph nodes in his abdomen, doctors feared he might have late-stage lymphoma (a cancer of white blood cells that can cause night sweats, weight loss and swollen lymph nodes).

However, a biopsy of his lymph nodes and bone marrow came back normal, ruling out cancer. Doctors then tested for diseases like hepatitis, syphilis and HIV — all came back negative.

Finally, doctors tested his lymph nodes and bone marrow for Bartonella henselae, a type of bacteria cats can harbor. He told doctors that he did have a cat — and that he’d been scratched recently.

It turned out that he had invasive cat scratch disease. Doctors treated him with an antibiotic twice a day for three weeks; his symptoms disappeared and he fully recovered his erectile function.

Cats can contract Bratonella henselae through flea bites, and most carry the disease without getting sick from it. Therefore, if they scratch a human while carrying the bacteria, humans can get sick from it. Some people don’t even get sick from it, but if you do, you’ll generally just experience a low-grade fever and enlarged lymph nodes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says.

But in this case, why did cat scratch disease affect the man’s penis? Doctors referred to it as “atypical.” In rare cases, it can cause nervous system disorders and also cause nerve damage. If this affects the pudendal nerve — which carries signals to and from the genitals — that can make it hard to get an erection. It could also be an explanation for the penis pain the man experienced, too.

Long story short, this man’s case of cat scratch disease was very rare, which is why it was included as a case study. If you’re worried about your feline friend giving you health issues, don’t be; the CDC says most cat scratches don’t result in cat scratch disease.