Coroner: Rat raised to feed family’s snakes fatally bites baby, who contracts rat-bite fever

CARLISLE, Pa. – A rat being raised to feed a family’s pet snakes ended up biting a 6-month-old boy and transmitting diseases that killed him, authorities said Thursday.

An autopsy found that the baby died from meningitis and myocarditis, and a later investigation determined that the infant had been bitten on the finger by a rat, Cumberland County Coroner Charlie Hall said.

It was difficult determining a cause of death, and lab tests that came back last week showed the baby had rat-bite fever, which caused the meningitis and myocarditis, Hall said.

“It’s bizarre,” Hall told the York Dispatch newspaper.

The infant and the family, who live in Dillsburg, in neighbouring York County, were not identified. The child was treated at a hospital emergency room Dec. 30 for a fever and a rash. Two days later, the lethargic and feverish child was brought back and died in the emergency room, Hall said.

Police and child welfare caseworkers were investigating the matter.

Hall said he notified child welfare caseworkers because a 3-year-old is among the extended family members who live in the home where the bite occurred, the coroner told the Dispatch.

Carroll Township Police Chief Tom Wargo said his department was notified last week. The parents are co-operating and it is too early in the investigation to know whether charges will be filed, Wargo told the Dispatch.