A 6-month-old Pennsylvania child has died after a rat his family was raising to feed a pet snake bit him, transmitting two deadly conditions, according to CBS News.

Tests found that the boy died of meningitis and myocarditis, diseases caused by rat-bite fever, which is extremely rare, but can be transmitted by rodent bites, as the name implies.

"It was pretty dominant in the baby's brain," Charlie Hall, Cumberland (Penn.) County Coroner told CBS News.

The baby was rushed to the emergency room Dec. 30 and died in the emergency room two days later. The autopsy report was released Thursday.

"It's bizarre," Hall said. The coroner said he's never seen anything like it.

Read CBS News' full story.

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Public Service Commission candidate Peter Hubbard gets a hug from Brionté McCorkle, executive director of Georgia Conservation Voters, during an election-night party in Southwest Atlanta on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025.  (Ben Gray for the AJC)

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