Sir.—Cat-scratch disease generally consists of regional lymphadenitis due to a gram-negative bacillus acquired from cats. There is often a small red papule or an infected scratch near the involved lymph node. Complications or other manifestations of the disease have included conjunctivitis, encephalopathy, peripheral neuropathy, osteolytic lesions, and polyneuritis. Treatment with oral trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole was reported recently.1 This report extends those observations.
Patients and Methods.—A retrospective review of 50 000 patient visits to a pediatric office in southeast Georgia from 1984 to 1990 disclosed the cases diagnosed as cat-scratch disease, lymphadenitis, regional lymphadenopathy, and adenitis. Patients with generalized adenopathy, bilateral adenopathy, and lymphadenopathy with splenomegaly were excluded. All patients were questioned carefully about exposure to cats at their home, their relatives' or friends' homes, or elsewhere.
Cat-scratch skin tests were applied at least 7 days after the onset of illness and the results read 2 to 3 days later