Florida man eats feral pig meat, contracts rare biothreat bacteria
In the fall of 2020, a 77-year-old man in Florida realized he had gotten one of the worst gifts imaginable-one that kept on giving.
According to a case report published in this month's issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the man showed up at a Gainesville hospital with chest pain that just wouldn't go away. For nearly two years prior, the man-a pastor living on a rural farm with dogs and goats-had been in and out of hospitals and on and off of various antibiotics.
Generally, the man wasn't in the best health. His medical history included Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. For the latter, he had an automated implantable cardiac defibrillator (AICD) placed-and it was not his first. The man had a notable history of having gone through multiple defibrillators and revisions, including getting a new generator in 2018. Some possible reasons for such a history could include heavy use of the device and infections.