Fish diseases we can catch :0

[RackinRocky]

WARNING: I had Microbacterium Marinum, and I got it from the fish tank. Fish tuberulosis. And yes, it is ZOONOTIC. Meaning, humans can catch it.

I had a little cut on my hand, and that's all it took. My doctor had never seen a case. The original spot progressed to four abscesses on my arm. I went to Urgent Care when it didn't get better after a few weeks, thinking I had cellulitis. So did they. They put me on Erthromycin. No go. Still had pus in the original area. Tried me on Amoxicillin and something else. Still didn't improve.My doctor called an infectious diseases colleague of his, and together they figured out what it was. Thank God for my doctor! Put me on Bactrin and Clindamycin. Had an allergic reaction twelve days later. So I finally was put on Minocyclin. It is one of the few antibiotics that kill it. it's a NASTY disease. And I was on Minocyclin for 9 months! That's how long it takes to cure this disease. It's no laughing matter. Altogether, with all the antibiotics, I was on antibiotics for a solid year.

Well, I was cured, and the doctor told me sometimes it takes YEARS to cure. You can die from it. I was lucky. My immune system has been messed with now, from all the antibiotics, and I'm still having trouble with my gut after being off the antibiotics for about seven months now. I may never be the same.

I had the abscesses drained early in the course of Minocyclin, and I even had to have nurses come to my house twice a week to clean and redress my abscess wounds. They don't take this lightly!

Please don't be posting that there is nothing you can catch from your fish. That is truly false. I was perfectly healthy. Good bloodwork, no diseases, felt fine when I caught it. Now I never put a hand in the water without special aquarium gloves that go up to my shoulder. Like I said, I was one of the lucky ones. Don't take chances!

 

[RackinRocky]

May I ask if you've ever even read about Microbacterium Marinum? I was in no way over exaggerating. People can from this disease if not treated with the appropriate antibiotics. Once I started the effective antibiotic, I began to get better within a week. I cannot believe how uninformed most fish keepers are, and if I can prevent one person from going through what I have, I will continue to post about this disease that can affect you long after treatment is over. Read this article, and then tell me I'm wrong.

http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/Factsheets/pdfs/mycobacterium_marinum.pdf

 

[RackinRocky]

And, as a side note, I did not ask for a doctor's report. I didn't feel it was necessary, as my doctor got me on the right antibiotic, and my abscess wounds healed, and I continued to improve. I did a tremendous amount of research on this disease at home, and of course the infectious diseases physician had seen a few cases, and from the description, he knew what it was. It is rare--that much is known, but it DOES happen, and people need to be aware of it. Are you an infectious diseases physician, pmvaldon? How are you qualified to say I was misdiagnosed?

 

[melosu58]

All off topic post were removed. Remember that everyone has the right to post their opinion or experience. It`s up to the OP what he wants to take from the posts on this thread. Please stay on topic on this thread.

 

[Andy Sager]

WARNING: I had Microbacterium Marinum, and I got it from the fish tank. Fish tuberulosis. And yes, it is ZOONOTIC. Meaning, humans can catch it.

I had a little cut on my hand, and that's all it took. My doctor had never seen a case. The original spot progressed to four abscesses on my arm. I went to Urgent Care when it didn't get better after a few weeks, thinking I had cellulitis. So did they. They put me on Erthromycin. No go. Still had pus in the original area. Tried me on Amoxicillin and something else. Still didn't improve.My doctor called an infectious diseases colleague of his, and together they figured out what it was. Thank God for my doctor! Put me on Bactrin and Clindamycin. Had an allergic reaction twelve days later. So I finally was put on Minocyclin. It is one of the few antibiotics that kill it. it's a NASTY disease. And I was on Minocyclin for 9 months! That's how long it takes to cure this disease. It's no laughing matter. Altogether, with all the antibiotics, I was on antibiotics for a solid year.

Well, I was cured, and the doctor told me sometimes it takes YEARS to cure. You can die from it. I was lucky. My immune system has been messed with now, from all the antibiotics, and I'm still having trouble with my gut after being off the antibiotics for about seven months now. I may never be the same.

I had the abscesses drained early in the course of Minocyclin, and I even had to have nurses come to my house twice a week to clean and redress my abscess wounds. They don't take this lightly!

Please don't be posting that there is nothing you can catch from your fish. That is truly false. I was perfectly healthy. Good bloodwork, no diseases, felt fine when I caught it. Now I never put a hand in the water without special aquarium gloves that go up to my shoulder. Like I said, I was one of the lucky ones. Don't take chances!

I'm glad to hear that you are finally on the right track to recovery but you have to admit, you are a rare case in the tropical fish hobby vs the "norm." You do raise a good point that you must take preventive measures when dealing with any living animal as many types of animals can give us humans diseases (I refer you to the Bubonic Plague and rats, AIDs and Monkeys, Rabies and pick your animal of choice, etc.). IMO, it would be a shame for someone to not get into this hobby due to a fear of catching a disease. It is a rare occurrence in my experience.

 

[RackinRocky]

I give up. Everything I wrote is true. It IS a threat, and everyone should wear gloves. Did you even read the link I posted? I'm guessing not. There are several others as well, if you care to Google it. It exists, and there are many pictures of what it can do as well on Google images. Anyone who is not a physician, and especially, a SPECIALIST in infectious diseases should not be making statements such as yours unless they know it to be a concrete fact.

 

[TMaier]

I swear every time I read this thread the theme music from Thunderdome plays in my head.

If we can all agree on one thing it's our passion for our hobby.

 

[Lev]

Hi all - first of all please don't anyone see my following quick reply as medical advice! It's more of an interesting observation, and I'm trying not to go too much into the day job as my hobby is partly so I can leave it behind at the end of the working day!

I am actually a British GP (general practitioner) and prior to going down this career path almost completed my training in Infectious Diseases before deciding that the overseas training needed would interfere with my other ambitions - anyway I've been following this thread with interest!

I personally DON'T use gloves when having contact with my tank water, although I do thoroughly clean my hands before and after. I think the decision on what precautions to take is a very personal one, but should always be based on knowledge of risk.

I know for example that the incidence where I am is extremely low, and I'm about 100x more likely to catch something nasty from one of my patients! If I had an open wound, or even dermatitis, I would probably don a pair of clinical gloves however with a band fastened around the wrist - a DIY job I've found to be watertight! I also wear gloves if I notice any sick fish.

Here's the interesting thing - why don't I wear gloves? They don't hurt me, or the fish. I guess the main reason is that readily available varieties don't cover all the skin anyway, and I've never been frightened enough of catching anything particularly nasty (again due to extremely EXTREMELY low incidences) to go though the time and effort to invest in full length personal protective equipment.

This could be considered cavalier and lazy, given the severe abscess forming and necrotising skin infections "fish TB" can produce. But I'm a firm believer in cost vs benefit and FOR ME, LOCALLY the risk is too low to justify the effort and expense. Globally the picture is different, and some areas see more of it. Overall in the USA (I guess where are lot of you chaps are), the incidence of M marinum is 1/1663212, although most cases are seen in aquarium owners, pet shop workers and fish handlers. Now if we presume survey data (which I have yoinked off Wikipedia) is still correct from 1993, rounded up - 10.6% of americans keep fish.

From this, if we presume ALL infections are in aquarists (they aren't), then you still have an incidence annually of 1/165233 - a very low risk, but notably 10x higher than the raw date would suggest per head of population. I think this risk annually is more accurate, given that we do mostly see these infections in people actually handling fish or their water.

So... do you want to buy gloves to prevent what is demonstrably (and thank you to our peer for sharing their story) a nasty and serious infection should it occur, or are you happy with the risk of 1/165233 (which to be fair I've cobbled together from a quick look at some out of date 1993 survey data and CDC and other published journalistic sources).

The decision is a personal one. If you want to be 100% sure you won't get it - don't keep fish- gloves can rip! But then again, if you want to be 100% sure you won't catch any serious infection you may be in for severely restricted and sad life! Swings and roundabouts!

Anyway that's my 2penceworth of thoughts out loud - I hope you can see why it shouldn't be taken as medical advice, especially since I've not been an ID for some time now

 

[Lev]

As a post script, it should be noted that mycobacterial infections aren't the only reason to wash your hands - you can catch pseudomonas aeruginosa from any body of water, including infected tap waters- and that can cause a plethora of human infections - I actually had ongoing horrible ear infections due to it - but I swim in the sea and fresh water lakes ALOT so they are likely more responsible - however wash your hands and you will be fine

germs are everywhere, you just need to be sensible.

 

[loubeardy]

I never knew this post would be so popular! (I think I may have kissed a few deleted ones... not sure what happened there... )
Thank you for sharing your personal experience.... I have read up on diseases we can catch (though I struggled finding stats... hence my post) and I'm very clued in about the risks. I wear gloves all the time now, wash my hands too, and.leave my tank alone more now too (before I was forever rearranging a plant or a rock making it perfect).

 

[loubeardy]

... thank you everyone who commented