tetracycline and Finger-Injuries

Topics: Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Diagnosis, Differential; Finger Injuries; Humans; Mycoplasma; Mycoplasma Infections; Seals, Earless; Tetracycline; Zoonoses

Topics: Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bites and Stings; Finger Injuries; Fur Seals; Humans; Male; Mycoplasma Infections; Pasteurellaceae; Pasteurellaceae Infections; Seals, Earless; Tetracycline; Zoonoses

Seal finger is an infectious disease unknown to most physicians. It occurs after contact with seals, and the symptoms include acute pain, swelling, and, in some cases, there is joint involvement. The etiologic agent of Seal finger is now believed to be Mycoplasma, and treatment with high dose tetracycline has been successful for over 50 years. Seals are after years of protection once again hunted in Sweden, and the first case of Seal finger has already occurred.

Topics: Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bites and Stings; Finger Injuries; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Mycoplasma Infections; Seals, Earless; Tetracycline; Wound Infection

The etiologic agent of seal finger (speck finger) is unknown. Seal finger occurs after a seal bite, and the symptoms include acute pain, swelling, discharge, and, in some cases, there is joint involvement. The discovery of Mycoplasma species in epidemics of seal disease prompted attempts to link seal finger to mycoplasma. Mycoplasma species were isolated in cultures of a specimen from the finger of an aquarium trainer who was bitten by a seal and of a specimen from the front teeth of the biting seal. The two Mycoplasma isolates were identical biochemically; they were serum-dependent and hydrolyzed arginine. The isolates were susceptible to tetracycline but resistant to erythromycin. By growth inhibition and immunofluorescent antibody tests, both strains were identified as Mycoplasma phocacerebrale, a mycoplasma isolated in an epidemic of seal disease occurring in the Baltic Sea. The patient's infection was treated successfully with tetracycline. To our knowledge, this is the first case in which a mycoplasma has been associated with seal finger.

Topics: Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bites and Stings; Female; Finger Injuries; Fingers; Humans; Mycoplasma; Mycoplasma Infections; Seals, Earless; Tetracycline; Tooth

Topics: Adult; Animals; Bites and Stings; Finger Injuries; Humans; Male; Seals, Earless; Tetracycline; Wound Infection

Two young women developed septic arthritis in an interphalangeal joint following a seal bite. One patient was cured with tetracycline: the other required joint arthrodesis. This entity known as "seal finger" is common among sealers. Although the infection may be cured with tetracycline, in late treated or untreated cases joint destruction may occur. No causative organism has been isolated.

Topics: Adult; Animals; Arthritis, Infectious; Arthrodesis; Bites and Stings; Caniformia; Female; Finger Injuries; Humans; Seals, Earless; Tetracycline

Topics: Adult; Animals; Finger Injuries; Humans; Male; Seals, Earless; Tetracycline; Wound Infection

Topics: Ankylosis; Arthritis; Contracture; Europe; Finger Injuries; Finger Joint; Humans; Occupational Diseases; Tetracycline

Topics: Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Arthritis; Drug Therapy; Finger Injuries; Fingers; Humans; Occupational Diseases; Oxytetracycline; Surgical Procedures, Operative; Tetracycline; Zoonoses

Topics: Acrodermatitis; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Diagnosis, Differential; Drug Therapy; Egypt; Finger Injuries; Humans; Oxytetracycline; Pathology; Psoriasis; Staphylococcal Infections; Sulfanilamide; Sulfanilamides; Sulfonamides; Tetracycline