Saltwater Infection, Sad Ending

[Mitchw123456]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but didn't someone on another post suggest using clorox? Would this work? Just curious.

I've always bleached cuts and such for the past year or so after fishing.. I cut myfinger sunday fishing and its now infected (guessing, going to the dr when I get off work). I'm thinking I've been wasting my time with bleach.

[larry long shadows]

WOW forget a Guide think I'll Get a Doctor to fish with..

[hondurasloco65]

It sounds like any puncture wound for example a hook, a fish spine or fin etc. Simple cuts, abraisions, all risks from fishing, I have scrapes and cuts on my hands all the time just from work, does anybody else have scraped up hands before going out in the yak and feels this is a risk for Vibrio?

[DB]

I'm thinking I've been wasting my time with bleach.

Things like chlorox and peroxide do kill germs but are also pretty toxic to the tissue, and there are storage issues. Just about every bacteria known to man (Vibrio and all the bad Staph and Strep) are easily removed by simple detergent + mechanical action...ie. washing your hands. Hence my favoring of the soapy stuff like Hibiclens.

anybody else have scraped up hands before going out in the yak and feels this is a risk for Vibrio?
It sounds like any puncture wound for example a hook, a fish spine or fin etc. Simple cuts, abraisions, all risks from fishing, I have scrapes and cuts on my hands all the time just from work, does anybody else have scraped up hands before going out in the yak and feels this is a risk for Vibrio?

As I mentioned about 3/4 of all cases of soft tissue infections where Vibrio was proven to be present occur in "outdoor recreational activities" in the gulf states. That means us. I'd cover deeper or fresh cuts with something that seals them up like Tegaderm and wash up after the trip. A bandaid or gauze will get soaked and hold water on the skin, so those are out.

I'm sure there are thousands of days spent fishing in the bay when sportsmen are cut and exposed to Vibrio. So nobody knows the individual risk you face going out, but it's really low. I can also say (having seen and treated some pretty horrendous infections myself) that in spite of a few scratches sustained while hedge trimming, I am going out at first light in the AM and get me that momma trout that slipped out of my net last week !

[Cherry MAC]

Hydrogen peroxide is more effective as a sporicide than as a bactericide, with sporicidal action being obtained using a solution containing 0.88 mol/l. Bactericidal action is poor but hydrogen peroxide was bacteriostatic at concentrations above 0.15 mmol/l.

PMID: 6409877 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]



hee hee, DB....

[Renfish]

CM, what do you recommend carrying in the yak to take care of cuts, etc.?

[Doug Poudre]

CM, what do you recommend carrying in the yak to take care of cuts, etc.?

Yearly physicals with your physician to check for compromised immune systems. Soap and clean water with a good scrubbing after you get off the water.

To have something on the water, you would need to use it everytime you got the cut dirty, hence covering it with an op-site (the dressing put over IVs in hospitals) or using liquid band-aid prior to getting on the water.

As Vincent mentioned, there is a strong correlation between people who are immune compromised (Hepatitis, Diabetes, Cirrhosis, Kidney failure, on steriods) and infections.

[Jolly Roger]

Thanks for the medical advice, it is great to hear from experts.


One thing I would like to stress about Vibro that many fishermen seem to not undertand. It DOES not always happen fast when you get infected. As in this case it took days before this man went to seek medical treatment. This is what kills fishermen, they wait to long. If you go fishing, and get sick after. GO TO THE DOCTOR ASAP.




"The incident occurred when Shurley was fishing alone close to shore in a small jon boat. The boat tipped over and he scraped his left knee while righting it. Shurley felt sick the next day but thought little of it. By Tuesday evening, his knee was so swollen and he felt so bad that friends took him to Baytown Methodist Hospital, fearing he had broken it"

[Flyfisher]

Shannon Tompkins talks about vibrio and saltwater fishermen in today's sports section.

Ray

[Flyfisher]

To have something on the water, you would need to use it everytime you got the cut dirty, hence covering it with an op-site (the dressing put over IVs in hospitals) or using liquid band-aid prior to getting on the water.

I rely heavily on the liquid band-aid when fishing and it has worked well at keeping germs out.

Ray

[DB]

Very Sad...I'd like to see the data correlating the number of vibrio deaths and people with Hep C...seems very common in the fatalities.

No data I could find on Hep C, but the real issue is cirrhosis from any cause (alcohol, drugs, hepatitis.) Hep C infected individuals can go a lifetime with no symptoms and no liver damage, or it can go the other way. Theory is that the increased blood iron levels seen with cirrhosis somehow allow the germ to thrive. Cirrhotic individuals have an 80-fold increased risk.

Interesting note: nearly 85% of cases are in males over 50. To me, that's just who is out on the water the most but one researcher found that estrogen in females protects against the Vibrio toxin somehow and reproduced it in the lab using rats.

So load up those pink kayaks and your Hello Kitty rods on your minivan (the ones with the built in testicle holders) and you wont get flesh-eating bacteria.
Maybe that explains the pink tutu SlowRide wore when castnetting... Anybody got that pic?

A review article with more facts, for those who

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9472 ... rom=pubmed" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;