Posterior Segment Manifestations of Cat-scratch Disease: A Mini-review of the Clinical and Multi-modal Imaging Features

ABSTRACT

Bartonella henselae, an intracellular gram-negative bacillus, is usually transmitted from infected cats to humans by direct or indirect contact. The bacterium mainly infects erythrocytes and endothelial cells thereby leading to so called cat-scratch disease (CSD) and may present with various localised and/or systemic manifestations. The eye is the most commonly affected organ in disseminated CSD and ocular bartonellosis has been reported in 5–10% of CSD patients. The most well-known clinical feature of ocular bartonellosis is neuroretinitis but various sight-threatening posterior segment lesions involving the optic nerve, retinal vasculature, retinal and choroidal tissues may occur during the disease course. This mini-review aims to overview both the clinical and multi-modal imaging characteristics of posterior ocular segment manifestations of CSD.

KEYWORDS:

• Bartonella henselae
• cat-scratch disease
• fluorescein angiography
• neuroretinitis
• ocular bartonellosis
• optical coherence tomography

Declaration of interest statement

Ethical issues have been completely observed by the authors. All named authors meet the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria for authorship in this manuscript, take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, and have given final approval for the version to be published. No conflict of interest has been presented.