Boy Dies of Rat-bite Fever, Petco Sued

An isolated case of the deadly rat-bite fever reportedly occurred in San Diego California last June, killing one ten year old boy. Now the family of that boy is suing Petco, claiming the country-wide pet retailer sold their child a diseased animal.

After a lawsuit against Petco was filed publicly on Monday, reports regarding the death of ten year old Aidan Pankey were released. Pankey, died from a rare but deadly rodent-transmitted disease called "rat-bite fever" he contracted sometime between May 27 and June 12, 2013.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), rat-bite fever is an infectious disease caused by bacteria carried in the mouths of some rodents. The fever causes muscle and joint pain as well as fever and vomiting. Two varied strains of the disease are found in North America and Asia, but overall, the disease is far more common in Asia. U.S. cases have proven to be extremely rare, and more often than not show themselves as Haverhill fever, an infection of the rat-bite fever that occurs in people after drinking bacteria contaminated water.

According to the CDC, rat-bite fever also can lay dormant in a victim's body for weeks. On June 11, two weeks after Pankey's grandmother bought him a new rat, the boy work up in the middle of the night extremely ill. He was rushed to the hospital but was tragically pronounced dead just after midnight, according to a court-filed complaint. The country medical examiner later determined the boy had died of rat-bite fever.

Now Pankey's parents have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the San Diego County Superior Court against Petco Inc., who sold the rat.

According to the complaint, Petco should have known about the dangers rat-bite fever posed especially for children, and pursued ways "to ensure that no diseased rats entered the steam of commerce."

Petco has expressed their condolences to the Pankey family in a statement, and is currently investigating the incident.