This research has been going on for years so why did I just hear about it yesterday from my neighbor? There are many posts on the internet about it but I’m still looking for something from a clear reputable source. 'Cat scratch' fever may cause human madness, study says
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It’s called Bartonella and is either from a scratch of an infected cat or comes as a coinfection of a Lyme tick bite. My son had it
with Lyme Disease. It’s very hard to get rid of and can cause permanent psychosis. I don’t know if that’s what’s caused my son’s schizophrenia. Some Drs say it is, some say it’s marijuana psychosis. Of course he must be predisposed to psychosis. Either way, he depends on medication for the rest of his life.
I had been told years ago that there is typically some type of “trigger” that sets the predisposition for SZ into motion but never thought it could be an infection. From everything I read today, it is still being researched but I also read that with antibiotics, it could still return over and over (the blood infection from Bartonella). Regardless of what the trigger might have been - although we had cats, I believe my son’s “trigger” was a concussion from a bicycle accident. 
My sister had cat scratch fever as an adult, and she’s the only sibling in my family who hasn’t been touched by SMI or substance abuse problems.
There’s also studies that suggest that Toxoplasma gondii possibly transmitted via cat feces may be linked to schizophrenia. While we had cats growing up, so do 35% of families in the US.
Personally I find these sorts of studies academic, as they don’t change seeking diagnosis or treatment which are the only things under a caregivers’ or sufferers’ control. I suppose there’s the off-chance advising family members to avoid contact with cats might prevent additional cases, but considering these are only theories of causality, I think it’s just as likely that there could be other demographic factors related to cat ownership that might have equal impact, considering the cause of schizophrenia and other SMI are largely unknown.
Cat Scratch fever often goes undiagnosed, my sister’s doctors were baffled by her symptoms until she met up with an older doctor who was familiar with the disease.
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Odd but interesting association. Borrelia Burgdorferi is the spirochete bacterium that causes Lyme disease transferred from a tick bite. Way back when I was infected, there still wasn’t a whole lot that we knew about it. But through my own research and studies and conferring with other medical professionals at the time, I/we decided the best course of action was to blast the body with antibiotics for a prolonged duration (90 day course of oral) and at the time my close girlfriend was also on intravenous nightly treatments for 6 months for what was determined to be a late stage case acquired when she was a young child.
Interesting thing about these spirochete-type bacterium is that they would cause severe joint pain generally in the larger extremities and it was determined that the bacterium rather enjoyed the soft tissues and synovial fluids that cushion our joints, as well as the soft tissues of the brain. Early on in the 1900’s, it was called “The Rich Wive’s Disease” as it seemed to be afflicting primarily wealthy women from the Hamptons area of New York who, as it turned out, were often taking holiday in the area of the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains in a town called Lymerock. So as it turns out, there was this epidemic among these women of unknown origin at the time but was landing these poor ladies in the asylums of the time (not pretty) because they were “losing their heads” and “going batty” and their inconsolable husbands were given no answers from doctors but to commit them.
Understandably to our thinking and our knowledge in science today, we understand that untreated obviously these bacterium can wreak havoc when they start boring into the soft tissues of the brain. This can become permanent damage. However, in the case of Lyme disease anyways, when diagnosed early and treated it can be pushed into full remission indefinitely. Neurological symptoms disappear and joint pain dissipates, yet the spirochete bacterium often can hide deep down in the cells of the joints and go ‘dormant’. Lyme disease is considered a blood disease, and has been tracked and studied by the CDC. Once a person has contracted Lyme disease, a standard Lyme tider (blood test) should in most cases forever after come up positive, even if they have been successfully treated and no longer have any symptoms. Though it IS possible to become re-infected. In some cases a doctor might prescribe two different medications together, one antibiotic and one to soften the cell walls of the patient to allow the antibiotic to penetrate more fully, or deeply, if you will.
For a long time Lyme disease was very specific to one geographical area, so often it wouldn’t occur to a doctor to test for it in a routine diagnostic process. Thus, untreated, it can be responsible for severe neurological damages and psychosis. Sometimes even permanent. Though this doesn’t often seem to be the case after successful treatment.
I had cat scratch fever as well - it showed up in my lymph nodes - but I never had any issues from it and it was cleared up with antibiotics.