“Holidaymaker, 29, has all five toes on her right foot amputated after catching a ‘bone-eating infection from a Thai FISH SPA”
Is the Schwelmenella mentioned in the article real or a hoax?
But to add to this scenario, I conversed with a bacteriologist who flagged that Mycobacteria would likely be lurking in such waters. Makes sense, since fish are undoubtedly held in stressful conditions, and fed insufficiently such that they try to “eat” dead skin from feet. These would render fish immunosuppressed and become prone to carry and amplify such diseases.
Mycobacteria spp. can occasionally cause disease in humans through contact with fish (M. marinum), and pedicure treatments have previously been associated with M. fortuitum infections.
Kent (2006) (FEMS Microbiol Lett 257 (2006) 69–75.) interestingly pointed out that these bacterium that were in general thought to be not capable of growing in a mammalian host at homeothermic temperatures as most assays grew better at http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1806.111782) ……. could also be a possibility for this event.
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