Nene said her cat wanted to kill him … and he was not mistaken | Chronic

After 18 months of hallucinations and antipsychotic treatment, it was discovered that the patient, barely 14 years old, had been the victim of the call. "cat scratch disease".

The clarification of a strange case of mental illness, occurring in 2015, was finally revealed through a study conducted by researchers from the North Carolina State University, in the USA.

A 14-year-old boy suddenly showed signs of schizophrenia: he had hallucinations, suicidal thoughts and homicides. He was also convinced that the small pet of his family wanted to kill him.

The child was not lying, the mental disorder he had suffered and which could even lead to suicide, had been caused by scratches caused by his cat, which had injected him with the bacteria Bartonella.

According to the study in question, and although in very rare cases, the "cat scratch disease" it can cause extreme schizophrenia.

Initially, the doctors treated the teenager with antipsychotics, but 18 months later, the treatment still did not work. It was then that the young man's parents found him in the cat's scratches and reported it to the specialists.

The cure

The doctors badyzed the wounds left by the feline and determined the true cause of the mental illness: it was an infection caused by the aforementioned bacterium, which had been transmitted to him by his pet. As a result, they treated the patient with antimicrobial chemotherapy and quickly recovered completely, both physically and mentally.

"Beyond this case, there are many activities to try to understand the potential role of viral and bacterial infections in these medically complex diseases.This case proves that there may be a link here and offers an opportunity for future research ", pointed out the main author of the study, Ed Breitschwerdt.