Actinomycosis

This contagious condition is caused by gram-positive, pleomorphic (can change shape between a rod and a coccus) rod-shaped bacteria of the genus Actinomyces, most commonly the A.

viscous species.

Actinomyces, which can survive with little (microaerophilic) or no oxygen (anaerobic), is rarely seen as the sole bacterial cause in a lesion.

It is more typically a component of a polymicrobial infection, in which multiple bacteria are present.

Actinomycosis is believed to be an opportunistic infection; that is, Actinomyces spp.

is a normal occupant of cat mouths, but cuts, scratches, or bite wounds in the membrane or skin might induce an imbalance in the bacterial milieu.

Periodontal disease and immunosuppressive diseases are also risk factors.

The symptoms of this infection include fever, pain, infections of the face and neck, swellings of the skin with draining tracts, and occasionally yellow granules inflammation of the peritoneum's cellular tissue.