Infected cut

MnFish1 · Oct 11, 2018

JaimeAdams said:
Yes, sir, I am very well versed in Mycobacterium after having dealt with my hand for a year and a half from bite to finished treatment. I do agree that there are many more common infections that one can get from a reef tank than that.

That totally sucks, how were they able to determine that is what was going on?

Cough that lasted months. Did a culture. Thought it was tb. But was atypical mycobacteria. Probably marinium. Developed a couple weeks after the siphon incident

brandon429 · Oct 11, 2018

MN fish I hate to hit like on anyone reporting an infection but I like the info being given, there's only so much dead air space water I should be trach'ing you are saying. it was self-water boarding level, my inhale.

MnFish1 · Oct 11, 2018

brandon429 said:
MN fish I hate to hit like on anyone reporting an infection but I like the info being given, there's only so much dead air space water I should be trach'ing you are saying. it was self-water boarding level, my inhale.

Not sure exactly what you mean lol. But it was a really big siphon hose and I was stupid because it came out so fast

North Borders · Oct 11, 2018

MnFish1 said:
In several areas of the country this was true 30 years ago. There are many different strains of staph some more virulent than others. MRSA is significant only because it’s resistant to commonly used antibiotics and thus becomes more severe because there is a treatment delay until the right antibiotics are used. The media has blown it a bit out of proportion

MRSA is a very real thing and I see it in my practice daily. However, as you said, it is not nearly as common as one would suspect by reading the news. My hospital isolates generally run about 30% MRSA rates. But remember, a lot of my hospitalized patients are chronically sick and have repeat exposure to the health care system so their rates are higher than the general population.

JaimeAdams · Oct 12, 2018

My friend got MRSA from having a C-Section. My Father got MRSA from hernia surgery. I got MRSA from tattoos.

MnFish1 · Oct 12, 2018

North Borders said:
MRSA is a very real thing and I see it in my practice daily. However, as you said, it is not nearly as common as one would suspect by reading the news. My hospital isolates generally run about 30% MRSA rates. But remember, a lot of my hospitalized patients are chronically sick and have repeat exposure to the health care system so their rates are higher than the general population.

Yep. The other thing is that the general population is not routinely surveyed. But even 20 years ago when patients with sepsis came in they were always empirically treated with vanco as compared to a Cillin because of the extremely high percentage of mrsa in our population. I’m not sure mrsa is always more virulent than other strains of staph aureus just that the infection gets deeper seeded because people don’t get antibiotics that treat it

mguili1947 · Oct 12, 2018

My knuckle got the size of a golf ball 3 years ago. I went to emergency room and the gave me a bag of antibiotics and prescribed antibiotics,which didn’t work. Then I went to infection disease doctor. They gave me drugs for Lukema that work on the type of infection I had . I was sick like a dog for 4 days while taking the drug. I quit and felt better and was put on another drug for 1year,my knuckle has finally gotten back to normal. 3 years

Tft12 · Oct 12, 2018

Wow. Sorry to hear these stories but thanks for sharing. I tend to cut my fingers and hands very frequently on vermitid snails. Time for me to wear gloves more often (I used to but I got lazy).

North Borders · Oct 13, 2018

MnFish1 said:
Yep. The other thing is that the general population is not routinely surveyed. But even 20 years ago when patients with sepsis came in they were always empirically treated with vanco as compared to a Cillin because of the extremely high percentage of mrsa in our population. I’m not sure mrsa is always more virulent than other strains of staph aureus just that the infection gets deeper seeded because people don’t get antibiotics that treat it

Vancomycin is still our workhorse MRSA drug and works well. We routinely add it on for our sepsis patients, especially when they have risk factors for multi-drug resistant (MDR) organisms. There have been some cases of MIC levels rising in different areas, so we may see a day in our lifetime where we have Vancomycin resistant MRSA as the norm, but this is not a reality yet in most areas. Thankfully, we have had a couple new drugs hit the market in recent years that can cover MRSA with little cross-resistance thus far. Another nasty is VRE or even worse yet V-CRE.

The general public doesn't really need to be surveyed as MRSA colonization isn't really a threat until an actual infection develops. You come in contact with MRSA and other nasty bugs on a daily basis, guaranteed. Your skin and immune system does a great job keeping you from getting infected, but when you get a cut, scrape, puncture wound or some other vector for bacteria to bypass the body's defense is when infection develops. We'll pick these people up with nasal swabs or cultures when we are picking initial therapy to screen for the potential of MRSA being a causative bug in say like a cellulitis or pneumonia.

ReefdUp · Oct 13, 2018

Just for future information... a few years ago I saw a study on how the vast majority of saltwater toxins/poisons break down quickly under high heat. Recommended first aid for cuts and bites was to run as hot of water as the person could stand over the area for about 15 min then clean with soap and water. That would flush the wound and hopefully inactivate damaging chemicals. Of course, vinegar is still a great standby for stings. Hopefully I remembered all that correctly, but that's what I do to help prevent trouble. Maybe it'll help someone else.

Fin · Oct 13, 2018

I had a friend that was infected with Vibrio on a fishing trip in the Gulf. Simply pricked his finger on a bait shrimp. He ended up in ICU for days and his infected finger was amputated. It had turned black and they were feverishly working to keep the infection from spreading. I know he was a severe diabetic, but not sure how his health was otherwise.