A word to the wise....

MnFish1 · Aug 12, 2019

karlandtanya said:
I'll add my M.marinum story to the list:
My finger swelled to 2x normal size & the orthopedist cut it & cleaned it out Thursday. Follow up appt today he says it's Tenosynovitis due to Mycobacterium. He said it's probably marinum due to my hobby, but infectious disease group will follow up later this week to confirm the specifics.
Anyhow, I've got physical therapy & a long course of antibiotics coming my way. And 2 pairs of nitrile gloves in the mail!
Doc said he'd never seen anything like it & he took pictures, but I won't post them here--they're pretty gnarly.
If you want to see, they're here:
Marinum pics

HOLY COW

rcmike · Jul 13, 2020

I know this is an old thread but I came across it while doing a search. My dad just got out of the hospital after a 2 week stay after a vibrio vulnificus infection in his hand. He went to Florida for a fishing trip and he was cleaning a fish and scratched his hand on one of its gills. The next morning it was sore and he had chills. Luckily he went to the hospital. He had several surgeries and they finally got it all. I have some pictures that my mom sent me that would make those pictures posted above look like a paper cut in comparison. I won’t post them here, they make me a little squeamish. He has huge holes in he back of his hand with tendons exposed and it will take a long time with some more work on it to heal up.

I’m not trying to scare anyone but if you do get a cut and somethings not right like a fever or chills get to the ER ASAP! I’m sure if he had waited it would have been much, much worse. I think the hospital he was at said that he was the second case this year so far.

vetteguy53081 · Jul 14, 2020

Scratch, rash , scar and even swelling- with amount if diseases out there. . . . Investigate it !!

MnFish1 · Jul 14, 2020

rcmike said:
I know this is an old thread but I came across it while doing a search. My dad just got out of the hospital after a 2 week stay after a vibrio vulnificus infection in his hand. He went to Florida for a fishing trip and he was cleaning a fish and scratched his hand on one of its gills. The next morning it was sore and he had chills. Luckily he went to the hospital. He had several surgeries and they finally got it all. I have some pictures that my mom sent me that would make those pictures posted above look like a paper cut in comparison. I won’t post them here, they make me a little squeamish. He has huge holes in he back of his hand with tendons exposed and it will take a long time with some more work on it to heal up.

I’m not trying to scare anyone but if you do get a cut and somethings not right like a fever or chills get to the ER ASAP! I’m sure if he had waited it would have been much, much worse. I think the hospital he was at said that he was the second case this year so far.

It is kind of like Covid - in a way - its all over in the water - but not many people get 'extremely' sick from it - But when you get it - it can be rapidly fatal. Liver disease, High Iron levels, immunosuppression are some of the risk factors. I think people that live on the coasts probably know more about it than others - so its a good reminder for those of us who are not. I will add one more thing to your post - make sure you tell them - you have a marine aquarium and the cut relates to something there. Most MD's will say 'so what'. Tell them to google it - and make them tell you why its NOT vibrio - as compared to go home and come back if its worse, etc etc. Most MD's that are not on a coast - will not have a clue

rcmike · Jul 14, 2020

MnFish1 said:
It is kind of like Covid - in a way - its all over in the water - but not many people get 'extremely' sick from it - But when you get it - it can be rapidly fatal. Liver disease, High Iron levels, immunosuppression are some of the risk factors. I think people that live on the coasts probably know more about it than others - so its a good reminder for those of us who are not. I will add one more thing to your post - make sure you tell them - you have a marine aquarium and the cut relates to something there. Most MD's will say 'so what'. Tell them to google it - and make them tell you why its NOT vibrio - as compared to go home and come back if its worse, etc etc. Most MD's that are not on a coast - will not have a clue

Right. I’m sure most doctors around here don’t have a clue about it. The “wait and see” approach doesn’t work for this bacteria. I think a lot of people that die from it or have amputations probably start not feeling well and decide to go to bed and see if they are better in the morning and by then it has spread to the point where it is much harder to get rid of.

I won’t stop working in my tank but I will be more careful to not cut myself and if I do get a cut I will be sure to clean it well and watch it more closely. I saw a meme a few days ago that said the chances of getting attacked by a pack of squirrels is low but never zero. The same applies here, very few people get it but it’s not impossible.

AquaBiomics · Jul 14, 2020

rcmike said:
Right. I’m sure most doctors around here don’t have a clue about it. The “wait and see” approach doesn’t work for this bacteria. I think a lot of people that die from it or have amputations probably start not feeling well and decide to go to bed and see if they are better in the morning and by then it has spread to the point where it is much harder to get rid of.

I won’t stop working in my tank but I will be more careful to not cut myself and if I do get a cut I will be sure to clean it well and watch it more closely. I saw a meme a few days ago that said the chances of getting attacked by a pack of squirrels is low but never zero. The same applies here, very few people get it but it’s not impossible.

I can relate to this post! I've started thinking very differently about exposing any cuts to my aquarium water ever since I started sequencing bacterial DNA from my tanks. Which is annoying because I'm always getting minor cuts while doing yard work etc.; human skin is frustratingly fragile.

I've sampled a lot of aquariums over the past year... and while they all contain some sequences from the Vibrio genus, and many contain sequences from the Mycobacterium genus, so far I have not found either of the species discussed in this thread (Mycobacterium marinum, Vibrio vulnifucans) in any clients' aquariums.

In one case I even checked with a custom set of Mycobacterium-specific primers and still found no evidence of marinum across several tanks I tested to confirm the results from 16S sequencing.

It's difficult to prove absence of any particular bacterium. But after spending quite some effort looking, and finding no evidence of these bacteria in any tanks tested so far, my impression is that these bugs are rare. I suspect their rarity in peoples' aquariums contributes to the rarity of these infections.

CindyKz · Jul 14, 2020

Grateful that I don't have a story like those above! A tiny cut on my thumb bought me a 4 day hospital stay and a trip to the OR. The story has a happy ending, but could have been so much worse.

All it took were the words "saltwater tank" to my Infectious Disease doc to get me all the fun antibiotics LOL. (He seemed surprised that I knew enough to ask about vibrio and marinum).

When in doubt, check it out. ASAP. Stuff spreads quickly.

vetteguy53081 · Jul 14, 2020

CindyKz said:
Grateful that I don't have a story like those above! A tiny cut on my thumb bought me a 4 day hospital stay and a trip to the OR. The story has a happy ending, but could have been so much worse.

All it took were the words "saltwater tank" to my Infectious Disease doc to get me all the fun antibiotics LOL. (He seemed surprised that I knew enough to ask about vibrio and marinum).

When in doubt, check it out. ASAP. Stuff spreads quickly.

I now recall you had similar !

Weller · Jul 27, 2020

EmdeReef said:
Let’s all take a breath and a few steps back. In general when you dig through such news there’s always a contributing factor, such as a compromised immune system. The level of serious infections in saltwater is exceedingly rare considering how many people with cuts, scrapes, you name it get in contact with saltwater daily...

Fortunately, common precautions like washing your hands after getting in contact with the tank water or latex gloves go a long way. For those who have a compromised immune system, additional steps may be warranted - and you may want to discuss with your doctor.

Here’s another thing that can happen:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...gs-hands-amputated-after-dogs-lick/877895002/

Did you know bacteria in your fridge can kill you???! Tune in at 10 to your local news station.

Waynerock · Jul 28, 2020

karlandtanya said:
I'll add my M.marinum story to the list:
My finger swelled to 2x normal size & the orthopedist cut it & cleaned it out Thursday. Follow up appt today he says it's Tenosynovitis due to Mycobacterium. He said it's probably marinum due to my hobby, but infectious disease group will follow up later this week to confirm the specifics.
Anyhow, I've got physical therapy & a long course of antibiotics coming my way. And 2 pairs of nitrile gloves in the mail!
Doc said he'd never seen anything like it & he took pictures, but I won't post them here--they're pretty gnarly.
If you want to see, they're here:
Marinum pics

Jesus dude!! Holy poop I should of not looked at that laying bed before I got to sleep.