Seal finger
| Seal finger | |
|---|---|
| Other names | spekkfinger (Norwegian); salrota (Baltic languages); salen i fingret ('in the Gulf of Finland')[1] |
| Specialty | Infectious Disease |
| Causes | Contact with seals or other pinnipeds |
| Treatment | Large doses of antibiotics, including tetracycline; previously amputation |
Seal finger, also known as sealer's finger and spekk-finger (from the Norwegian for "blubber"),[2] 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[citation needed]; it has also been contracted by exposure to untreated seal pelts.[citation needed] The State of Alaska Section of Epidemiology defines it as "a finger infection associated with bites, cuts, or scrapes contaminated by the mouths, blood, or blubber of certain marine mammals".[3]
It can cause cellulitis, joint inflammation, and swelling of the bone marrow; untreated, the course of "seal finger" is slow and results often in thickened contracted joint.[3] Historically, seal finger was treated by amputation of the affected digits once they became unusable.[citation needed] It was first described scientifically in 1907.[4]
The precise nature of the organism responsible for seal finger is unknown, as it has resisted culturing because most cases are promptly treated with antibiotics;[3] 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[5] 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.[6]
Notes
- ^ White CP, Jewer DD. "Seal finger: A case report and review of the literature". Can J Plast Surg. 17: 133–5. PMC 2827281. PMID 21119845.
- ^ Seal Finger, from Alaska Science Forum (article #335), by T. Neil Davis; published August 24, 1979; archived at the University of Alaska Fairbanks; retrieved August 18, 2011
- ^ a b c Seal Finger - An enigma and a challenge; State of Alaska Epidemiology Bulletin #17; published August 5, 1983; retrieved August 18, 2011.
- ^ "Spekk-Finger" or Sealer's Finger, by Kaare Rodahl, from Arctic, vol. 5, no. 4 (December 1952), p. 235-240; archived at the University of Calgary; retrieved August 18, 2011
- ^ Baker, Ann Sullivan; Ruoff, Kathryn L.; Madoff, Sarabelle (1998). "Isolation of Mycoplasma Species from a Patient with Seal Finger". Clinical Infectious Diseases. 27 (5): 1168–70. doi:10.1086/514980. PMID 9827264.
- ^ Westley, BP; Horazdovsky, RD; Michaels, DL; Brown, DR (2015). "Identification of a Novel Mycoplasma Species in a Patient With Septic Arthritis of the Hip and Seal Finger". Clinical Infectious Diseases. 62: civ875. doi:10.1093/cid/civ875. PMID 26449564.
External links
- Working with Marine Mammals and Your Health, NOAA brochure on zoonoses, including seal finger. (requires Acrobat Reader (via archive.org))