My buddy could have died!!!!

[OnceLoyal]

Wow is all I can say. Off Dania doing our regular thing we decided to help clean up a little and remove some trash that so many aholes leave behind. (can I say ahole??). My buddy was weighted down pretty good and we had a decent current kicking so we were kind of crawling on the bottom heading back to the boat. Long story short he punctured his thumb on a barnacle. Looked pretty deep when we got on board. He did have gloves on, but it went right through. About 2 weeks later he went to his doc at the VA because it seemed to have gotten infected. Within 6 hours he was admitted and under the knife. A bacterial infection had made it way into his bone. They had to remove the tip of his bone on the thumb and keep him in there for 4 days running some massive quantities of anti biotics.
4 different strands of bacteria were found as was 2 different living organisms. 18 Cases in the US from these particular bacteria (I guess they sually travel together??) and 9 out of the 18 have died. Pretty damn freeky!!!! I told him he should've put peroxide on it lol..... ANyway, the wound was so deep the doc said he doesn't think it would've mattered.
Lesson learned..... Be careful and get into the doc asap if you even suspect a wound is getting infected from diving. At the rate it was spreading within another 2 weeks he would've been in some very, very seious issues.
Sorry if this was a little hard to follow. I am at 41,000 feet and starting a descen so in a little bit of a rush!

 

[OnceLoyal]

BTW if I get some time I will try my best to find out the exact bacteria, and keep peroxide on the boat and use it if you need too!!! Don't wait till you get home!!!!

 

[zaberman1]

All wounds that you get from the reef should be considered infectious; the reef contains living organisms and certain bacteria not very prevalent on land. Thats one reason why the usual 'coral scrape' does not heal faster than the paper cut...I'm glad your buddy is ok! Very creepy story...

 

[gypsyjim]

Thanks for the word of caution. Glad your buddy is doing better. One never expects small wounds to cause so much trouble, but you can't ignore the first warning signs of any infection you get from a marine organism wound.

 

[openmindOW]

Wow. That's scarey. Thank you for your post, OnceLoyal.

Your was wearing gloves, too. Amazing.

 

[TSandM]

You know, there have been a couple of threads recently about serious infections from diving-related wounds, and the common factor is that people are waiting quite a long time to seek medical care. So I thought I would write a little something about the warning signs that should prompt someone to get something looked at.

The normal healing sequence for a wound is that, over the first day or two after it occurs, there may be a little swelling and some mild redness right around the wound edges. This is due to the normal inflammatory response that cleans up debris and prepares the wound for healing. After that, the wound, if closed, should have a minimal area of pinkness right at the incision, no swelling, steadily decreasing pain, and no drainage. An open wound should have a nice, pink base, clean edges, minimal clear yellow drainage (serum), and minimal pink color to the skin edges around the open wound.

If a wound begins to become increasingly swollen, feels like there is fluid underneath it, becomes increasingly painful, begins to drain anything other than very scant amounts of clear, yellow fluid, or has redness that is expanding or forming streaks, it should be seen as soon as possible. This is also true if a wound which has been improving begins to become increasingly painful. Any fever in someone with a significant wound should be evaluated (fever being more than 100.5 F). In hand wounds, if straightening the fingers is markedly painful, this can be a sign of significant infection, as can swelling which appears on the opposite side of the hand from the wound. (For example, wound on the palm, and swelling and redness appearing on the back of the hand.) Hand wounds should be monitored carefully, because infection getting into the tendons can result in significant loss of function, even if treated promptly and appropriately.

Having wounds which are showing these signs evaluated is a very legitimate use of urgent care or an ER, as one should not wait days or weeks for an appointment to treat an infected wound.

 

[Cave Diver]

You know, there have been a couple of threads recently about serious infections from diving-related wounds, and the common factor is that people are waiting quite a long time to seek medical care. So I thought I would write a little something about the warning signs that should prompt someone to get something looked at.

I've seen it mentioned not to use anything on the wound, except to clean and irrigate it with water and that using peroxide or alcohol can actually damage tissue and slow healing.

How about other types of wound care? Washing thoroughly with anti-bacterial soap, iodine, adding neosporin or other anti-bacterial creams, or bandages with anti-bacterial cream already on them?

What's the best way to treat after the fact?

 

[Jax]

I've seen it mentioned not to use anything on the wound, except to clean and irrigate it with water and that using peroxide or alcohol can actually damage tissue and slow healing.

How about other types of wound care? Washing thoroughly with anti-bacterial soap, iodine, adding neosporin or other anti-bacterial creams, or bandages with anti-bacterial cream already on them?

What's the best way to treat after the fact?

What Cave Diver said, and an additional question -- Does the fact that it came from a marine organism make a difference? Seems like any cut needs good attention.

 

[sffrenchman]

....and keep current on your tetanus vaccination.

 

[steve70638]

....and keep current on your tetanus vaccination.

This is a question I have always had: A few years ago I got a cut on my arm on a wreck (wreck = rusty metal) and the doctor gave me a tetanus shot--no big deal, it is a good thing to keep current with anyway. Later, it dawned on me that how can the tetanus virus live underwater?