Fwd: Herald Article/CAT SCRATCH DISEASE

December 12, 2005

Hi you all,

I wanted to share this article someone sent me about joint pain

produced by bacterial infection resulting from cat bite or scratch.

Molly

>

> 36.4Â° - NE, 2.0 mph Monday, December 12, 2005

>

> Health

>

> Woman battles cat-scratch disease

> Arthritis, other ailments make life challenging for ex-Durangoan

>

> December 12, 2005

> By Dale Rodebaugh | Herald Staff Writer

>

> A cat bite turned out to be far more serious for a former La Plata

> County resident than the usual encounter with a feline's teeth or

> claws.

>

> Annette Vaden Steinman, who worked 12 years as a private

> investigator in La Plata County, was bitten by a kitten in March

> 2004, a tooth puncturing the nail on her right index finger.

>

> Steinman, 48, who lives in Dallas, said she is now unable to work,

> crippled with arthritis. She uses 13 medications and narcotic-laced

> lollipops to battle pain in joints, bones, muscles and tendons;

> that allows her a maximum of three to four hours a day of activity.

> She also needs three creams to combat skin reactions.

>

> Medication and doctor visits run $1,200 to $1,800 a month, out of

> pocket, after insurance.

>

> Steinman fell victim to cat-scratch disease, which is caused by

> Bartonella henselae, a bacteria carried by about 40 percent of

> cats. Ninety percent of people who contract

> Bartonella henselae develop a skin sore and, several weeks later,

> painful lymph nodes. But their problems seldom go further.

>

> " In most people it goes away without treatment and without

> problems, " said Dr. Chuck Salka, an infectious-disease specialist

> at Mercy Medical Center. " It's unusual for it to get more serious

> than lymph node swelling, but more severe manifestations can be

> treated with antibiotics. "

>

> Steinman is one of the few cat-scratch victims whose condition took

> a turn for the worse, according to the Baylor University Medical

> Center doctor who has attended Steinman since September 2004.

>

> " She has had a very rough time with severe arthritis

> in relationship with cat-scratch disease, " Dr.

> Meador said by telephone. " She has severe pain in her hips,

> knees, wrists and elbows and has muscle aches as well. "

>

> Steinman, who takes antibiotics for cat-scratch disease and other

> medicine for pain, fits the profile of patients in an 11-year study

> in Israel of 841 patients diagnosed with Bartonella henselae. The

> study found that 24 (3 percent) of the patients developed often

> disabling rheumatoid arthropathy (joint disease). Nineteen of the

> 24 recovered after one to 24 weeks, but five developed chronic

> joint problems that persisted after almost five years.

>

> The study was described in the November issue of

> the American College of Rheumatology Journal. The

> article said that only sketchy data on cat-scratch disease patients

> who developed arthropathy had been available since the syndrome was

> identified in 1950. The scarcity of data raised the question of

> whether joint disease is an unusual, but true, manifestation of cat-

> scratch or just a chance occurrence.

>

> The Israeli study allowed investigators to link joint disease to

> cat-scratch disease and describe a syndrome, the journal article

> said. Joint disease associated with cat-scratch disease is

> characterized by pain in hips, knees, ankles, wrists and elbows.

> Two-thirds of the patients with cat-scratch arthropathy were women,

> and all were 23 to 54 years old.

>

> Meador believes Steinman can pull through.

>

> " I remain optimistic that we can get her condition under control, "

> Meador said. " She does have a chance to recover. "

>

> Meador said that cases such as Steinman's call attention to the

> need of physicians to be more vigilant about reactive arthritis - a

> response to infection.

>

> " I wanted a lap cat, " Steinman said by telephone

> from Dallas, where she's lived for a couple of

> years. " But instead, the kitten was spooky, always nervous. It

> couldn't be a lover. "

>

> Steinman treated the wound with hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin,

> which seemed to take care of the problem. But the next month she

> developed a back ache - the beginning of months of visits to

> medical specialists, including an orthopedist, neurologist,

> rheumatologist and infectious-disease specialist.

>

> " They knew something was up, but they didn't know what, " Steinman

> said. " I was afraid it was the intestinal cancer that I beat in

> 2000, but an MRI showed there hadn't been a relapse. "

>

> Medical literature indicates that people with immune systems

> compromised by drugs in cancer treatment, organ transplants or HIV/

> AIDS treatment are more susceptible to other problems.

>

> In a conversation with a physician, Steinman recalled the cat bite.

> That clue led to blood tests that revealed Steinman had Bartonella

> henselae, a bacteria carried by cats. Some say the cats get the

> bacteria from fleas, but it's unproven.

>

> At times Steinman can't walk or drive. She has installed lever

> handles on house doors because she can't turn a traditional door

> knob. She has suffered dizziness and pain in knees, hands, neck and

> spine.

>

> Email this article

> Printable version

>

> A A A

>

> top

> Cortez Journal | Inside Outside | SW Colorado Home |

> WebDurango | SW Colorado Guide | Herald Store

>

> Coupons | Site FAQ | About Us | Write the Editorï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼

> ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼

December 12, 2005

Hi Molly, Can you send the URL to this article please?

Thank You ~ Rainy

nostorystory <nostorystory@...> wrote:

Hi you all,

I wanted to share this article someone sent me about joint pain

produced by bacterial infection resulting from cat bite or scratch.

Molly

>

> Woman battles cat-scratch disease

> Arthritis, other ailments make life challenging for ex-Durangoan

>

> December 12, 2005

> By Dale Rodebaugh | Herald Staff Writer

>

> A cat bite turned out to be far more serious for a former La Plata

> County resident than the usual encounter with a feline's teeth or

> claws.

>

" The cat is the only animal without visible means of support who still manages

to find a living in the city. " -- Carl Van Vechten

RainySue19@...

---------------------------------

Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at

December 13, 2005

I find this particularly interesting because --- both me and my plastic surgeon

suffer from RA and both of us were infected with the " cat scratch fever " as

children..... We joked that maybe that is what caused it... but maybe it was no

joke.

kerri sue

nostorystory <nostorystory@...> wrote:

Hi you all,

I wanted to share this article someone sent me about joint pain

produced by bacterial infection resulting from cat bite or scratch.

Molly

>

> 36.4Â° - NE, 2.0 mph Monday, December 12, 2005

>

> Health

>

> Woman battles cat-scratch disease

> Arthritis, other ailments make life challenging for ex-Durangoan

>

> December 12, 2005

> By Dale Rodebaugh | Herald Staff Writer

>

> A cat bite turned out to be far more serious for a former La Plata

> County resident than the usual encounter with a feline's teeth or

> claws.

>

> Annette Vaden Steinman, who worked 12 years as a private

> investigator in La Plata County, was bitten by a kitten in March

> 2004, a tooth puncturing the nail on her right index finger.

>

> Steinman, 48, who lives in Dallas, said she is now unable to work,

> crippled with arthritis. She uses 13 medications and narcotic-laced

> lollipops to battle pain in joints, bones, muscles and tendons;

> that allows her a maximum of three to four hours a day of activity.

> She also needs three creams to combat skin reactions.

>

> Medication and doctor visits run $1,200 to $1,800 a month, out of

> pocket, after insurance.

>

> Steinman fell victim to cat-scratch disease, which is caused by

> Bartonella henselae, a bacteria carried by about 40 percent of

> cats. Ninety percent of people who contract

> Bartonella henselae develop a skin sore and, several weeks later,

> painful lymph nodes. But their problems seldom go further.

>

> " In most people it goes away without treatment and without

> problems, " said Dr. Chuck Salka, an infectious-disease specialist

> at Mercy Medical Center. " It's unusual for it to get more serious

> than lymph node swelling, but more severe manifestations can be

> treated with antibiotics. "

>

> Steinman is one of the few cat-scratch victims whose condition took

> a turn for the worse, according to the Baylor University Medical

> Center doctor who has attended Steinman since September 2004.

>

> " She has had a very rough time with severe arthritis

> in relationship with cat-scratch disease, " Dr.

> Meador said by telephone. " She has severe pain in her hips,

> knees, wrists and elbows and has muscle aches as well. "

>

> Steinman, who takes antibiotics for cat-scratch disease and other

> medicine for pain, fits the profile of patients in an 11-year study

> in Israel of 841 patients diagnosed with Bartonella henselae. The

> study found that 24 (3 percent) of the patients developed often

> disabling rheumatoid arthropathy (joint disease). Nineteen of the

> 24 recovered after one to 24 weeks, but five developed chronic

> joint problems that persisted after almost five years.

>

> The study was described in the November issue of

> the American College of Rheumatology Journal. The

> article said that only sketchy data on cat-scratch disease patients

> who developed arthropathy had been available since the syndrome was

> identified in 1950. The scarcity of data raised the question of

> whether joint disease is an unusual, but true, manifestation of cat-

> scratch or just a chance occurrence.

>

> The Israeli study allowed investigators to link joint disease to

> cat-scratch disease and describe a syndrome, the journal article

> said. Joint disease associated with cat-scratch disease is

> characterized by pain in hips, knees, ankles, wrists and elbows.

> Two-thirds of the patients with cat-scratch arthropathy were women,

> and all were 23 to 54 years old.

>

> Meador believes Steinman can pull through.

>

> " I remain optimistic that we can get her condition under control, "

> Meador said. " She does have a chance to recover. "

>

> Meador said that cases such as Steinman's call attention to the

> need of physicians to be more vigilant about reactive arthritis - a

> response to infection.

>

> " I wanted a lap cat, " Steinman said by telephone

> from Dallas, where she's lived for a couple of

> years. " But instead, the kitten was spooky, always nervous. It

> couldn't be a lover. "

>

> Steinman treated the wound with hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin,

> which seemed to take care of the problem. But the next month she

> developed a back ache - the beginning of months of visits to

> medical specialists, including an orthopedist, neurologist,

> rheumatologist and infectious-disease specialist.

>

> " They knew something was up, but they didn't know what, " Steinman

> said. " I was afraid it was the intestinal cancer that I beat in

> 2000, but an MRI showed there hadn't been a relapse. "

>

> Medical literature indicates that people with immune systems

> compromised by drugs in cancer treatment, organ transplants or HIV/

> AIDS treatment are more susceptible to other problems.

>

> In a conversation with a physician, Steinman recalled the cat bite.

> That clue led to blood tests that revealed Steinman had Bartonella

> henselae, a bacteria carried by cats. Some say the cats get the

> bacteria from fleas, but it's unproven.

>

> At times Steinman can't walk or drive. She has installed lever

> handles on house doors because she can't turn a traditional door

> knob. She has suffered dizziness and pain in knees, hands, neck and

> spine.

>

> Email this article

> Printable version

>

> A A A

>

> top

> Cortez Journal | Inside Outside | SW Colorado Home |

> WebDurango | SW Colorado Guide | Herald Store

>

> Coupons | Site FAQ | About Us | Write the Editorï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼

> ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼

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