Cat-scratch encephalopathy

The first case of encephalopathy associated with cat-scratch disease was published more than 50 years ago.(1) At that time, cat-scratch disease itself had been described only recently in the English-language literature, by Greer and Keefer,(2) but without allusion to neurologic involvement. As they reported, an acute febrile illness affecting patients with a history of close contact with cats or kittens had been noted since 1932 by Lee Foshay, MD, of Cincinnati, Ohio, who coined the term cat-scratch disease and prepared an antigen that he used for skin testing in similar patients. However, these cases were not reported, and the condition was not widely known.