Seal finger

Seal finger

Seal finger, also known as sealer's finger and spekk-finger (from the Norwegian for "blubber"), is an infection that afflicts the fingers of sealers and other people who handle pinnipeds, as a result of bites or contact with exposed seal bones; it has also been contracted by exposure to untreated seal pelts. It can cause cellulitis, debilitating joint inflammation, and edema of the bone marrow; historically, seal finger was treated by amputation of the afflicted digits once they became unusable.

The precise nature of the organism responsible for seal finger is unknown, as it has resisted culturing; however, as seal finger can be treated with tetracycline or similar antibiotics, the causative organism is most likely bacterial, or possibly fungal; in 1998, Baker, Ruoff, and Madoff [Baker AS, Ruoff KL, Madoff S.; November, 1998. " [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9827264&dopt=Abstract Isolation of Mycoplasma species from a patient with seal finger] " Clinical Infectious Diseases] showed that the organism is most likely a species of "Mycoplasma" called "Mycoplasma phocacerebrale". This "Mycoplasma" was isolated in an epidemic of seal disease occurring in the Baltic Sea.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.epi.hss.state.ak.us/bulletins/docs/b1983_17.htm State of Alaska Epidemiology Bulletin from 1983]
* [http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF3/335.html Alaska Science Forum from 1979]
* [http://www.sefsc.noaa.gov/PDFdocs/Zoonoses_Brochure.pdf NOAA document on zoonoses, including seal finger] (requires Acrobat Reader)


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