Fish pedicures

Originally Posted by Pythoness

Fish have a strain of Mycobacterium called "fish tuberculosis" (it's not really tuberculosis) that is transmissible to humans. If the fish have it, and you have even the smallest paper cut that is open and you submerge that wound in the water with the fish - you've got it. And it can be REALLY REALLY nasty.

So, no thanks. I'll pass.

Originally Posted by Pythoness

"I am one of the unfortunate people who caught this Mycobacterium marinum. I had a cut on my finger and cleaned the fish tank. In December 2002, I first noticed a small bump on the inside of the middle knuckle on my left index finger. I thought I had jammed my finger.
The lesions grew, became purple, and spread around the knuckle. An orthopedic surgeon operated about the first of April 2003, and opened my finger and took a culture. He failed to get the culture to grow, so it couldn't be identified. I was on an oral antibiotic, cephalexin. Two weeks later the pus started pouring out of the wound. I went to the doctor the next day and was put in the hospital and started on intravenous vancomycin. I was in the hospital five days, then sent home with a pic line, and continued the treatment at home for another two weeks. In the meantime, I was going to hydrotherapy to keep the wound draining.
Two weeks later the nodules were still growing, the pus was worse, and my finger was swelling and looking deformed. I was put back in the hospital and started on biaxin and euthambutol. The hand surgeon operated on my finger, and gave me about a 50% chance of not losing it. She cut it down both sides and the back, and on into my hand where it was spreading. I took hydrotherapy twice a day, and was hospitalized for 13 days. The cultures came back with a diagnosis of acid fast bacillus; the infectious disease doctor thought it was water-borne from a fish.
After being discharged, I am continuing my medication for at least 6 months. My finger is deformed and will need plastic surgery when the infection is entirely gone. The bacterium destroyed my tendons and joint in the infected finger.
Finally the State of Tennessee laboratory identified this, after 3 months, and this was identified as Microbacterium marinum."

Originally Posted by Pythoness

"I am one of the unfortunate people who caught this Mycobacterium marinum. I had a cut on my finger and cleaned the fish tank. In December 2002, I first noticed a small bump on the inside of the middle knuckle on my left index finger. I thought I had jammed my finger.
The lesions grew, became purple, and spread around the knuckle. An orthopedic surgeon operated about the first of April 2003, and opened my finger and took a culture. He failed to get the culture to grow, so it couldn't be identified. I was on an oral antibiotic, cephalexin. Two weeks later the pus started pouring out of the wound. I went to the doctor the next day and was put in the hospital and started on intravenous vancomycin. I was in the hospital five days, then sent home with a pic line, and continued the treatment at home for another two weeks. In the meantime, I was going to hydrotherapy to keep the wound draining.
Two weeks later the nodules were still growing, the pus was worse, and my finger was swelling and looking deformed. I was put back in the hospital and started on biaxin and euthambutol. The hand surgeon operated on my finger, and gave me about a 50% chance of not losing it. She cut it down both sides and the back, and on into my hand where it was spreading. I took hydrotherapy twice a day, and was hospitalized for 13 days. The cultures came back with a diagnosis of acid fast bacillus; the infectious disease doctor thought it was water-borne from a fish.
After being discharged, I am continuing my medication for at least 6 months. My finger is deformed and will need plastic surgery when the infection is entirely gone. The bacterium destroyed my tendons and joint in the infected finger.
Finally the State of Tennessee laboratory identified this, after 3 months, and this was identified as Microbacterium marinum."