ABSTRACT
Cat scratch disease has been known as cat scratch fever, cat scratch syndrome, and benign lymphoreticulosis. Research studies provide evidence that bacillary angiomatosis and bacillary peliosis may be etiologically related. Cat scratch disease in humans has been traditionally described as a chronic, usually benign, subacute adenitis of lymph nodes that drain the cutaneous or conjunctival inoculation sites. Clinical, pathologic, and epidemiologic investigations had implied an infectious etiology for cat scratch disease, but efforts to identify an etiologic agent were destined to be unsuccessful. Until the etiology of cat scratch disease is resolved and diagnosis can be made by reliable tests, the many questions about the epidemiology of cat scratch disease will remain shrouded in some mystery. Disseminated classical cat scratch disease and bacillary angiomatosis-bacillary peliosis both are more commonly seen in immunocompromised patients. The scientific literature about cat scratch disease is expanding rapidly in the wake of recent research discoveries.
