THE AETIOLOGICAL AGENT OF CAT SCRATCH DISEASE

A highly pleomorphic, gram-positive bacterium was cultured from an excised lymph node of a patient with cat scratch disease (CSD). The organism had morphological forms similar to those of the bacterium observed in Warthin-Starry stains of lymph node sections from CSD patients and may be the aetiological agent of this disease. Electron microscopic examination of lymph node sections from another patient with CSD showed organisms with morphological forms similar to those of the isolated bacterium. Biochemical and physiological analyses of this isolate suggested that it is not a commonly recognised contaminant or human pathogen and that it may be a member of the genus Rothia. This organism appears to resemble the bacterium that was identified as the aetiological agent of Parinaud's oculoglandular syndrome, a specific form of CSD, over 70 years ago.