I’m back in full swing….

It’s been quite a while since I posted to my blog. Fortunately, it’s not for any other reason than I’ve been super busy with work and family…..all good!!! So, let the words flow. I’ve got so many things I want to share, but perhaps the most important is to heighten awareness of a “new” old disease that we have been seeing more and more of recently. Its previous name was “Cat Scratch Fever”, but is now known as Cat Scratch Disease or Bartonellosis. Bartonellosis is a zoonotic disease, that is, a disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans. It’s quite diffuse (estimates of 30% of shelter cats have the disease) and often misdiagnosed or under diagnosed by both physicians and veterinarians alike. The disease can be sub clinical in both cats and humans in that the symptoms may be vague…a scratch that doesn’t heal normally, a painful lymph node or enlarged lymph node, fever, malaise, often associated with a cat scratch. In more serious cases, multiple lymph nodes may be involved, and may even drain pus. It may even lead to inflammatory conditions of the central nervous system, including encephalitis (brain inflammation) which can cause assorted neurological symptoms. In cats, something as minor as bad breath, gingivitis, discharge from the eyes or nose that fail to resolve with common antibiotics, may be signs of Bartonellosis in cats. The facts are that in a resent survey of shelter cats, about 1/3 were carriers of the disease and are often symptomatic themselves. How do cats get Bartonellosis and what can be done to treat it and even more important, prevent it? How do people get infected? Stay tuned.