Something to Think About

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SubRosa

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Jul 3, 2009
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As you look at these pics consider the following story:
I was working aquarium maintenance a few yrs back and had a tank that we called the tank of death. Everything we put in just wasted away and died. I told the owner that he needed to feed the fish, and he assured me he did. Considering that he had two other tanks in the office in which the fish thrived I believed him. During this time my cat had a litter of kittens, so I naturally had little scratches on my hands. Around Thanksgiving I noticed a lump on my right hand. It grew rapidly and got tender so I went to the hospital. They lanced it and packed it and sent me on my way witha scrip for Augmentin, a fairly powerful antibiotic. After two days I pulled the packing and ALOT of pus drained out of the wound. Over the ext few weeks it healed up well, and I thought no more of it. Right before Christmas I was having a drink with a friend who noticed the healing wound. He asked and I told him what I knew. He said that while he wasn't a doctor it had the look of something he'd seen yrs before when he ran a service company. He said it had the look of a Mycobacterium marinum infection, aka Fishtank Granuloma and that if it was it would be back as Augmentin works against mostly Gram + infections and Mycobacteria (including the organism that causes TB in humans) are Gram -. Sure enough around New Years another lump broke out on the inside of my forearm. Since I didn't have insurance at the time and was still paying off the previous hospital bill I took matters into my own hands. I talked to a friend of a friend who is a pharmacist who recommended Minocycline as the drug of choice due to side effects of some of the others. He sold me a whole bottle at cost since treatment takes a minimum of 6 weeks to be certain of completely eradicating the bug. I lanced the lump myself, took the meds and wonder of wonders, no relapse. Something to think about when you put a bare hand into your tank:

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cam191919

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Apr 8, 2008
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huh, iv got like a 10 cut minimum on my arms at all times, never thought this could happen. did you need so many pic of that arm????
 

SubRosa

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Jul 3, 2009
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If it makes you feel better here's a pic of my arm all healed up!

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Slappy*McFish

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Feb 18, 2002
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Jeez, it looked like a bullet wound.
 

SubRosa

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Jul 3, 2009
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The organism is called Mycobacterium marinum. In fish it acts like its cousin Mycobacterium tuberculosis does in humans by causing a general wasting away. In humans marinum causes skin lesions.
 

SubRosa

AC Members
Jul 3, 2009
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Plague generally attacks the lymph nodes. M. marinum is a skin issue in humans. The external lesions do look similar.
 
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