A tiny scratch landed a young girl in the ICU, and shortly after, she was diagnosed with a rare, but dangerous brain infection. This rare case has shocked many, with many wondering if a seemingly harmless scratch could lead to brain damage. A rare case
Dr Vishal Gabale, a functional medicine specialist based in Mumbai, India, has recently shared a rare case, where a child ended up in the intensive care unit, after playing with a cat. Two weeks before landing in the hospital, the girl had rescued a stray kitten. “She never knew she would end up in ICU just for helping this kitten,” Dr. Gabale said in an Instagram video, stressing the importance of handling animals with care. And no, the girl didn’t get rabies.“So, exactly two weeks later when she helped this kitten, she collapsed at school. She came to her ER with generalized seizure, high-grade fever, and weakness on the left side of the body. Looking at the symptoms, we were suspecting an infection. But there were no signs of meningitis, no toxoplasmosis, her CSF was normal, only lymphocytic leucitosis was there. But when we did the MRI, it was showing a ring-enhancing lesion in right parietal lobe. We were all confused,” the doctor said, explaining about the difficulty in diagnosing the cause. Cat scratch and a dangerous disease
The cause remained a mystery, but the doctor soon noticed a faint scratch on the child’s arm. Her mother recalled that the child had rescued a kitten and used to play with it. The doctors soon test the child for Bartonella henselae, the bacteria responsible for cat scratch disease. The results came back positive, and the girl was diagnosed with neurobartonellosis, a rare but life-threatening brain infection.The bacteria found in a cat’s saliva can enter the human body through a scratch or bite. When the kitten scratched the child, the bacteria entered the body and then into the bloodstream. In most cases, cat scratch disease causes mild symptoms, such as swollen lymph nodes, fever, or fatigue, which resolve without serious complications. However, in the little girl’s case, it led to the infection of the brain. “Usually, it just causes swollen lymph nodes. But sometimes, rarely, it can cause blood brain barrier via infected endothelial cells, inflammatory cytokines, or direct infection. And then it attacks the brain, causing seizure, encephalopathy, neuroretinitis, and even hemiparesis,” the doctor said.
(Pic courtesy: iStock)
According to a 2023 study the incidence of cat-scratch disease was reported to be 6.4 cases per 100,000 population in adults and 9.4 cases per 100,000 population in children aged 5-9 years globally.
The girl’s medical team acted swiftly, upon diagnosis, and administered doxycycline and rifampin. “This is a standard treatment for the CNS Bartonella. Slowly, she got better,” the doctor said.While most cat scratches are harmless, sometimes it could lead to serious risk. Even a small scratch should not be dismissed.
