Streptobacillary fever; Streptobacillosis; Haverhill fever; Epidemic arthritic erythema; Spirillary fever; Sodoku

Rat-bite fever is treated with antibiotics. Your health care provider may prescribe penicillin or tetracyclines for 7 - 14 days.

The outlook is excellent with early treatment. Untreated, the death rate can be as high as 25%.

• Abscesses of the brain or soft tissue
• Infection of the heart valves
• Inflammation of the parotid glands (parotitis)
• Inflammation of the tendons (tenosynovitis)
• Pericarditis

Call your health care provider if:

• You or your child has had recent contact with a rat or other rodent
• The person who was bitten has symptoms of rat-bite fever

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Rat Symptoms

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Rat Prevention

Review Date: 09/15/2010
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)