Question: Hello Doctors. I was scratched on my lower arm by my indoor cat a few days ago. The scratch became red around it and the redness started to spread out a little, still localised but a few inches outside the cut. I went to my doctor who drew a circle and told me that if the redness spread outside the circle I should go straight to emergency. She gave me flucloxacillin 250 to be taken 4 times a day. I am now ending day 2.
Today I noticed a rash about 3/4 inches away from the scratch. Small pimples some a little red, others plain coloured. They did not appear to be connected to the scratch but I googled catch scratch fever and see that this is one of the symptoms. I've also been feeling a little flued up today, very mild but it's there and have been sweating a little without a fever. I went to emergency following my doctors advice that if anything strange happened I should go straight to emergency. The go seemed confused by the spots but seemed concerned by my mild flu symptoms and prescribed me doxycycline to be taken for a week . She told me to stop taking flucloxacillin.
My question today is, obviously the reason my original doctor prescribed me flucloxacillin was a concern that this could develop into sepsis, but the cut and redness seem to be staying the same, if not a little better. Obviously cat scratch fever is now a concern because of the spots and mild flu symptoms ... I would value a second opinion. Would you continue taking both, just the flucloxacillin or just the doxycycline. Is there anything else I should be doing or looking for at this stage. Should I be concerned by this sudden emergence of rash, only present close to the site of the scratch and nowhere else on my body.Thank you so much for your assistance with this.