An English businessman died of an infection about two weeks after he was bitten by his children’s pet rat.

An inquest in West Sussex determined this week that the bite was almost certainly the cause of Matthew Wareing’s death, although the bacterium involved has not been identified, The Telegraph reported.

Coroner Roger Stone said Wareing apparently postponed seeing a doctor when serious symptoms developed about 10 days after the bite, because he had a business meeting. He died July 20, a day after he was admitted to the intensive care unit at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.

"It does seem that the cause of death is directly linked back to the bite from the rat," Stone said. "The symptoms seem to have been rather surreptitious and come and gone. He seemed to feel better then took a sudden turn for the worse."

Wareing apparently put some antiseptic on his arm after he was bitten and paid no more attention to the wound until his arm started swelling days later. He is survived by his wife, Denise, and three children. // Copyright 2007 by United Press International


Publication date: 03 October 2007   

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