i think its a very rare freak occurence.

i couldnt find out much about the bacteria or the disease, except that its commonly found in rhodents, can be transmitted also via other animals that feed on rhodents, and that it responds well to antibiotics, and that complications are rare. and that death is extremely rare. basically when you get the fever, antibiotics solve the problem.

compare that to a real killer like tetanus, which can be found almost everywhere in nature, can be contracted with basically any unclean small wound, and when people actually get the disease its often rapidly deadly. i mean, wikipedia says: "Mortality rates reported vary from 48% to 73%. In recent years,[when?] approximately 11% of reported tetanus cases have been fatal. The highest mortality rates are in unvaccinated people, people over 60 years of age or newborns". thats what i call a killer, and its so common on grass or hay that the crap of incompletely digesting herbivores like horses or rabbits typically contains it.

by comparison, this rat bite fever really seems rather rare, exotic, and even if the disease manifests, rather harmless and easy to adress. it wont make my list of things to worry about. not with other pathogens around that are much more common, much more deadly, and much harder to treat. what happened there seems like a really a rare and tragic accident, like getting struck by a lightning.