MUST READ, Shark Rash Sucks & could Kill You!!!!!!!

The post below was created by dfew and I copied it with his permission. This post is more important then any other post on the net and pertinent for 100% of us. Thank you Brian

SHARK RASH SUCKS! And could Kill you!

I first experienced rash from a small hammer caught about 4 years ago. He left my inner arm sore and scabbed for about three weeks. I have fared well over the last few years but the last large BT (6.5')
was caught and showed out for us. During dehooking he smacked me around really well. Lost hand size areas of skin on both ankles with the left really being deep. Of course initially it didn't hurt so bad. Salt burned a little during release.

Here he is -- no, it was not prego-- had claspers...

Here he is smiling and contemplating his attack prior to hook removal first attempt/skin removal.

So, to the point of the post... all of us have had or will have rash at some point. I wanted to briefly discuss the risks of the rash. These infections can also infect other wounds exposed to salt water. However, shark skin is covered in both Staph and Strep bacteria. In addition, Vibrio andMycobacterium bacteria can flourish in warm salt water. There are others but these four account for the majority of infections in shark rash.

First staph infections can cause pus, pustules, bulla (water filled or pus filled blisters), and abcesses.
Strep species can cause superficial cellulitis or flesh eating types of infections.
Vibrio species can be very invaseive becoming systemic within 48 hours and can account for mortaily rates of 80% if getting in bloodstream. (That means up to 4/5 people die with systemic infection.)
Mycobacterium marinum infections occur more slowly but can begin within 3-4 days and can cause ulceration at wound sites adn if persists will cause areas of granulation or balls of scar tissue forming.

So you are asking why am I posting this. Well, as you may have guessed, I am a physician and am just getting over two of these infections. I tend to be OCD and figured that if I supposedly know what to look for and allowed one of these to sneak up on me, it might be easy for one of you guys to do the same or belittle the symptoms and allow it to become much worse. Unfortunately I didn't take pics of my own wound and am kicking myself. However after 2-3 days of the rash my pain began to increase. I tend to not be too wimpy so I just blew it off. by day 5, stopping and standing was quite painful. Rest and elevation and movement seemed to be ok but if I stopped and allowed blood to pool in the legs the pain was quite real. This continued for days 5 6 and 7. On the end of day seven, my office manager asked to see the wounds. ( She likes gross stuff... and I just about needed a Depends!) My wound which before just looked like a bad burn on my left leg looked like my daughter had taken a purple violet crayon and colored for inches around the wound and in the middle you could see delineation of eaten flesh. Needless to say, I had antibiotics on board within minutes and used heavy duty antibacterial cream every four hours for the next three days. Things were looking great and feeling great but then I noticed that above the open would where i had just had my leg "shaved" I had numerous red "bumps" called papules that were rapidly enlarging. Well donkey sticks... now i have Myco marimum. So I had to start a second antibiotic for this infection. Fortunately for me, neither was able to progress rapidly but I would hate for someone to lose an appendage, let alone die just because they were being a little too macho and having the guy mantra of "well, it's supposed to hurt." Or say "I have had another hundred wounds like it and I was fine." Good cleansing with hydrogen peroxide is better than alcohol and holy cow doesn't hurt near as bad. A prescription cream for BACTROBAN (mupirocin) should be used until healed, and if you can see a doc then prophylactic antibiotics are now recommended by the American Dermatological Association. So educate yourself, leave the macho behind and if you have any doubt about a marine wound get it checked. Also don't be afraid to question the doc if he blows you off. Any fever within 48 hours of a suspected infected wound is Vibrio until ruled out and should be treated aggressively. Fortunately the others aren't quite as sneaky.

Infected skin early

Later necrotic infection

Healing granulation tissue

Vibrio infection

Strep fasciitis (flesh eating-- this was a secondarily infected bee sting)

Mycobacteria

Tight Lines.
Sorry for the long post but want to see everyone take care of themselves.

Brian