England: A coroner has ruled that the death of Matthew Wareing from an as yet unknown infection is almost certainly linked to a bite from a rat belonging to his children. At the time he put antiseptic on the wound and it began to swell 3 days later.

Ten days after the bite the businessman developed serious symptoms but chose to wait until after he had attended a business meeting to see a doctor. When he did seek medical attention he was placed in intensive care and died a day later.

"It does seem that the cause of death is directly linked back to the bite from the rat. 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," said coroner Roger Stone.