As far as the original question, an eschar over a wound conceals the wound healing that is going on underneath. One of the first things the body tries to do, is to cover the open wound with epithelium. This takes a varying amount of time, depending on the wound size and other factors. The initial layer of epithelium is thin and fragile, which isn't very critical if the open area is very small, as an insect bite would be (unless you have scratched it open). Removing the eschar is the only way to know how much healing has taken place, but the process of removing it may disrupt the epithelialization.
If I were going to immerse myself in a heavily contaminated environment, I would assume that all eschars constituted open wounds. However, in the case of insect bites that were not scratched and are over a week old, I think it's likely that you have other breaks in the skin that are equally significant and of which you are unaware -- hangnail, anybody? I think I would be more worried about swallowing some salt water and getting a GI illness from the bug. But that's me. If you want to reduce the risk to zero, don't dive where the bacterium has been found in numbers. I would not assume that any wound covering would function perfectly to prevent water contact.
V. vulnificus cellulitis and sepsis is pretty rare. My guess would be that most immunocompetent hosts cope fine with small inoculates, but I have no literature to support that.
If I were going to immerse myself in a heavily contaminated environment, I would assume that all eschars constituted open wounds. However, in the case of insect bites that were not scratched and are over a week old, I think it's likely that you have other breaks in the skin that are equally significant and of which you are unaware -- hangnail, anybody? I think I would be more worried about swallowing some salt water and getting a GI illness from the bug. But that's me. If you want to reduce the risk to zero, don't dive where the bacterium has been found in numbers. I would not assume that any wound covering would function perfectly to prevent water contact.
V. vulnificus cellulitis and sepsis is pretty rare. My guess would be that most immunocompetent hosts cope fine with small inoculates, but I have no literature to support that.
