A large-scale survey of the disease revealed that contact with an infected cat can cause fever, pustules and in extreme cases, the complications from the illness can cause death.
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This means, if you can not imagine life without your cat, you best wash your hands after playing with them and avoid kissing them.
While animals do not suffer ill effects, the bacteria can cause chronic infections in humans, reports Daily Mail.
They found the scope and impact of the potentially deadly disease was larger than they thought.
Researchers took data from MarketScan health-insurance claims between 2005-2013 and discovered more than 13,000 US patients were diagnosed with cat-scratch disease, with 538 requiring inpatient treatment.
Cat lovers be warned – getting your fill of feline affection could make you ill or even worse, scientists have said.
The bacteria can build up in cats’ fur and make its way into your body through the nose, eyes, or mouth and Kittens are more likely than adult cats to carry the bacteria, so snuggling and kissing them can be very risky.
The pretty alarming information has come straight from doctors at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, who completed a survey of the cat-borne bacterial disease Cat Scratch Fever.
“Cat-scratch is preventable. If we can identify the populations at risk and the patterns of disease, we can focus the prevention efforts”. Many of them are children, because they love to play rough with cats.
The disease comes from a bacterium which is passed from cat to cat.
“Most of the people who get seriously sick from cat-scratch are immunocompromised”.
An expert in the feild Aaron Glatt told that the rise in complications could be because more people are immune suppressed in present, as compared to 15 years ago. “The classic example is patients with HIV”, Glatt said.
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In a blow to people who want to do nothing more than to take an adorable fluffy kitten into their arms and snuggle it, scientists say it could kill you.
