Medical Journal - Cleaning A Fish Tank Can Cause Infection

[John_Brandt]

Cleaning Fish Tank Can Lead to Infections

Clinical Infectious Diseases - August 1, 2003

Owners of tropical fish be warned: Cleaning the fish tank without wearing gloves may get you a bacterial skin infection, especially if you have an open cut or abrasion on your hand or a depressed immune system.

Writing in the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, Dr. C. Fordham von Reyn and colleagues from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, describe eight adults who developed sores, mostly on the arms, after cleaning their fish tanks.

In six of the eight individuals, lab tests showed the culprit to be Mycobacterium marinum, a bacterium first identified in dead aquarium fish in 1926. This bug was found to infect humans in 1951 after being isolated from skin lesions.

The use of chlorine in swimming pools has drastically reduced the number of skin infections among swimmers. Today, most reported skin infections linked to the bacterium come from contact with fish tanks.

Antibiotic therapy took care of the infection in most cases. But one patient's infection failed to resolve after about two years of drug treatment as well as attempts to cut out the sores. This patient had a depressed immune system. He had psoriasis, melanoma, and was taking steroids.

Fish-tank exposure is the source of "most cases" of M. marinum skin infections, the researchers warn, and may be preventable by using waterproof gloves.

 

[Anonymous]

I was just thinking about this sort of thng the other day while watching a mass of bristleworms crawling around my DSB. If I ever tear this tank down, what do I do with the DSB? You can be sure my hands will not touch it

Bryan

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/Wound.htm

And! (We've got pics on site now, and many thanks to Dr. Allen for his vast input recently.)

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/woundfaq.htm

 

[Anonymous]

Is this bacteria found in both FW and SW?

 

[Dargason]

It's found in saltwater and freshwater both. There's a nice article here:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-07/s ... /index.htm

 

[Anonymous]

Marked for archiving.

 

[liquid]

Dang you beat me to it Sea!

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

i got bit by a tesselata(3footer) about a little over a month ago....

got a nice slice into the tip of my ring finger, right hand-blood dripping everywhere-coulda used a stitch, prolly... after a quick wash w/peroxide, and a short rest, to let the bleeding stop, and recover from the mild shock, i went right back to work in the tanks at the store

i always have cuts, scrapes, etc., on my hands, and they're in both fw, and sw, tanks for hours every day, and have been fr the better part of over 10, prolly 15, yrs.

i've never had an infection problem, ever-in fact-the cuts on my hands always seem to heal a wee bit faster after working continuously in our sw, and reef systems, than on the rest of my body(i end many days w/scratches, cuts that i don't even know the origin of )

but then again- i don't go running for the bactine every time i get a booboo,do not take antibiotics, and let my immune system work at keeping me (relatively) healthy.

oh- i let my dog lick any cuts i get here at home, and have even rubbed small cuts onto corals/anemones, just to see what would happen

yet- here i still am, alive 'n kickin :twisted:

p.s.-as a fish farmer, i've had tilapia's dorsal spines go through my fingers/hands on an almost daily basis, in muddy fishponds-never an infection there, either

imo- the odds of ever really contacting anything serious(like piscine t.b.) from an aquarium are infinitesimally low, so as to be of no practical concern for almost every hobbyist-walking outside is prolly more dangerous :wink:

then again- i'm no m.d., either :wink: