Received: from hplms26.hpl.hp.com by opus.hpl.hp.com with SMTP (1.37.109.8/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA00206; Tue, 23 Aug 1994 14:20:56 -0700 Return-Path: <westes@usc.com-DeleteThis> Received: from uucp4.netcom.com by hplms26.hpl.hp.com with SMTP (1.36.108.4/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1S) id AA21653; Tue, 23 Aug 1994 14:21:03 -0700 Received: from localhost by netcomsv.netcom.com with UUCP (8.6.4/SMI-4.1) id NAA26383; Tue, 23 Aug 1994 13:55:47 -0700 Received: by usc.com (NX5.67d/NX3.0M) id AA08067; Tue, 23 Aug 94 13:42:37 -0700 From: Will Estes <westes@usc.com-DeleteThis> Message-Id: <9408232042.AA08067@usc.com-DeleteThis> Subject: Re: Possible infection danger in the bay To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis Date: Tue, 23 Aug 1994 13:42:37 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <9408231734.23822C@justinpc.mcm.com-DeleteThis> from "Justin Gordon" at Aug 23, 94 11:29:37 am X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 2183
'Justin Gordon says:'
> The previous weekend, a sliver of my fingernail broke and I pulled it off,
> causing a little bleeding. It seemed like nothing and I didn't think
> much of it. Later last week, it started to hurt and swell up. The pain and
> swelling got so bad, that I went to see a doctor.
>
> He diagnosed me with having a soft tissue bacterial infection in my finger.
> I suspect that I got it from the water at Crissy Field. He prescribed me
> som antibiotics (and pain killers) and my finger is slowly getting better.
> If I had ignored the pain and not seen the doctor, the situation could have
> gotten bad enough that I would have lost the tip of my finger.
>
> So I am telling this story for two reasons. Be careful if you get a cut and
> go in the water, and if suspect an infection, don't hesitate to see a doctor
> to get some antibiotics.
>
> Has anybody else had any experiences like this?
That's interesting, because the only bad finger infection I have had was
from peeling off the edge of a nail which left a small gash in the finger.
I have no idea why cuts in the vicinity of fingernails tend to get
infected like this, but I can speculate that the reason is constant
exposure to food, which is bacteria-rich. This happened to me in the dead of
Winter, and I was nowhere near Bay water.
The solution was pretty straightforward: I sterilized the wound, put
antiobiotic creme on it, then sealed it in a band-aid. Literally within
hours it started to decrease in swelling, and within two days it was almost
back to normal. This was after nearly two weeks of getting worse each day.
I guess a lot of these infections tend to be aerobic bacteria, and maybe sealing
off the wound from air starves them off some.
Speaking of disgusting Bay water, two seasons ago I made the mistake of
burying my hand in the mud north of Coyote and leaving it there for the
duration of a break while sailing. I developed a pretty disgusting skin
rash that looked like athelete's foot on my hand. I've learned to be a
little less friendly with Bay mud.
-- Thanks, Will Estes Internet: westes@usc.com-DeleteThis U.S. Computer Saratoga, CA 95070
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