Waterborne bacteria

[dhays]

Bare foot and shorts otherwise I will give up boating .The water must be a 100% cleaner here.

Showed this to a Dr friend he has never seen this before but did say it can be picked up from public showers and how dose anyone prevent getting there feet wet when boating or swimming.So shoes aren't the answer

It isn’t a matter of not getting wet, but a matter of avoiding injury that can then become infected. Wearing shoes and other protective clothing can help avoid the minor injuries that can lead to problems.

 

[stubones99]

Has anyone tried the tucket shoes I've seen at the boat shows? I tried on a pair at the show but felt rubbing on the string around the top of the shoe. I hoped it would work and haven't needed a pair yet.

Boat Shoes for Men | Water Friendly | Drainable | Tucket Footwear

 

[BandB]

Has anyone tried the tucket shoes I've seen at the boat shows? I tried on a pair at the show but felt rubbing on the string around the top of the shoe. I hoped it would work and haven't needed a pair yet.

Boat Shoes for Men | Water Friendly | Drainable | Tucket Footwear

Tried and their largest size was too tight. It had the length but rubbing in other places as you experienced.

 

[NightCrawler]

An aside - speaking to a FL DNR biologist a few years ago during a press induced hysteria about the 'flesh eating' bug in the lagoons around Vero Beach.
The media had trumped up the problem as being pollution related. The biologist explained the bacteria is older than dinosaurs. It's primary target is the shells of clams, oysters, etc. This is partly why it gets in and attacks tendons and such.

I will certainly be paying more attention during screen cleanings and activities not related to stubbing a toe on an oyster bed after reading this thread.

So glad it was caught soon enough. Scary stories for sure.

 

[BandB]

I will certainly be paying more attention e.

That's the greatest thing to be learned is that while most don't, every cut, every injury, every illness has the potential of very serious complications. The key is reacting soon enough. If in doubt, get treatment. Be aware of any changes. Do, or have someone do, visual examinations of your entire body. This isn't to make you scared to do anything, but it's to make you aware. Also, while we talk about the dangers of water and certain foods, look at E-Coli from Romaine Lettuce or Salmonella from your Pet's food. Hospitals have issues. Look at the athlete's forced to have many repeat surgeries and with careers destroyed over Staph Infection from one of the most reputable facilities in the country. Look at all the cancers that are treatable with early discovery.

Also, take care of family and friends when they won't themselves. Likely everyone here gets more concerned about the health of a loved one than themselves. Well, observe. Observe changes and "minor" injuries. Nag them until they get to a doctor. There have been several cases in the news where a viewer noticed something with a tv personality and caught a condition early.

 

[jimisbell]

It's more the filth from streets, parking lots, sidewalks, etc. I've worn boat shoes for ages and a pair I keep on board are much kinder to light colored decking. Wear the street pair and there's filthy footprints and often scratches from bits caught in the soles. Eventually when a pair gets too worn for being presentable they become bilge shoes, kept in the engine room.

But a pair of dark rubber shoes will end up leaving dark scuffs. I want less work when boating, not more due to someone's crappy shoe choices.

When washing or working on the boat I definitely wear shoes. Too much else going on to suffer stubbing toes.

When the kids go ashore they wear their water shoes (sandals).

For the men: next time you are standing at a urinal, look down to where your feet are and then ask yourself if you want to track that into your boat/home/anyplace.... That revelation many years ago caused me to swear off ANY kind of sandal and I prefer cowboy boots....except on board of course.



Do you know why there are few cowboys on boats? They drown. Leather soles and wet decks just dont mix.

 

[hmason]

On this topic, the green algae being released in the water from Lake Okeechobee has reached Stuart FL today. Pray for us.

 

[HopCar]

Dave, thanks for posting this. I had no idea. I’ll be more careful in the future.

 

[BandB]

Wifey B: On the shoe dirt issue. There is no law preventing you from changing shoes when you board if you feel they're unclean. Don't wear the same shoes to bed that you wear working in the compost pile.

Don't assume by barefoot that your feet will pass the health department inspection in flying colors too. And you can't change them. You spend the day walking around on the deck where fish have floundered, where others have bled, walking in the head, through the galley where food hit the floor and how the particles are filled with germies, on the swim platform where the dinghy was after the greatest dismal cesspool. You think your floor is so clean you can eat on it, enjoy the illusionary world. With shoes on there is separation between you and the armpits of the universe. Barefoot, every little ounce of creepy crawly is slithering it's way to your nail bed.

 

[dhays]

Last Friday I got a small cut on the left side of my right index finger about half way down the proximal phalanx. I don’t even know when it happened but some time when I was working on the boat. It was a small cut and I didn’t think much about it. Unfortunately, it is amazing how many times I use that part of my finger from one moment to the next. I was constantly irritating the wound and it was beginning to get a bit inflamed.

I thought of this thread and so decided to actually think about wound care and try and remember what little I had learned decades ago. Wound care in the eye is entirely different than would care in normal epidermis. I discovered two things are important; covering the wound, and keeping it moist. I had not protected the wound and I had allowed the edges of the wound to dry out, delaying healing. So yesterday I finally broke down and put a little antibiotic ointment on it and covered it with a simple bandage. The anti-biotic ointment could have been any ointment in this situation. The ointment simply help keep the wound from drying out. After 24 hours, there was a marked improvement with the edges of wound coming together nicely.

The other thing I realized was that using antiseptic on a wound like likely counter productive. Typical anti-septics like H2O2, alcohol, or iodine, will damage the exposed tissue of the wound, causing a delay in healing. Best is to flush the wound with saline and a mild soap, remove any debri with disinfected tweezers, and then dress the wound to keep it clean and moist.

 

[BandB]

One thing Dave's post reminded me of too is if any of you haven't used antibiotic Band-Aids (use the brand, the generics in this case are not close), they are wonderful and even overnight do an amazing job at closing small wounds. They stay on with hand washing or most any normal activity. It's an easy equivalent of Neosporin with bandages and stays on a lot better than Neosporin with band aids.

 

[psneeld]

There is another whole group of people who work in nasty conditions all day, get multiple cuts all week, some serious...... dont use band aids regular or super and just keep plodding along with no more wound care than wiping with a dirty rag.

It may not be smart, but dont feel bad if you fit this category instead of the other....

You know like Mike Rowe in Dirty Jobs.....

 

[hjorgan]

I do some underwater work on docks. Always wear a wet suit (yes it gets hot), gloves and booties. Still can get cut on oysters and barnacles but I take great care now. Our neighbor scraped his shin 2 years ago, had to go through similar treatment, and still wears a compression bandage on his leg. Nasty stuff.

The gloves I use are SHOWA 541 Palm Plus Cut Resistant (Amazon has them). A bit pricey but they aren't hot like rubber gloves, and you can use tools and nails with them.

 

[Donna]

This is horribly scary. It is impossible not to get some type of cut from boating and impossible not to get wet from lines, etc.

How is it that this is becoming more prevalent now than in past years. It would make sense that it has something to do with pollution or even raw sewage.

I am extremely happy to hear your wife and everyone here that was affected are fine.

 

[dhays]

This is horribly scary. It is impossible not to get some type of cut from boating and impossible not to get wet from lines, etc.

How is it that this is becoming more prevalent now than in past years. It would make sense that it has something to do with pollution or even raw sewage.

I am extremely happy to hear your wife and everyone here that was affected are fine.

I don’t think that it is necessarily any more prevalent than in years past. We are just more aware. History is filled with average folks who end up dying from a simple injury and infection.

 

[janice142]

That's one more reason we wear shoes, just part of the whole injury aspect along with broken toes and such.

I wonder how Oliver is doing... He needs shoes too don't 'cha know?!?

Aboard Seaweed I wear slippers. That's for comfort rather than a "no shoes" policy. There are too many ways to hurt myself, slip/fall, etc. on a boat. Shoes with decent traction (I have Sperry's from the thrift store) are important. My slippers have little bumps on the bottom for a bit of grip.

Now Seaweed's sole is NOT SPIFFY SHINY. Years ago I was on an Island Packet and dang near broke myself. The floor was so slick I almost took a full blown tumble. Teak and holly, gorgeous and Dangerous as all get-out.

My solution (which plays into the I DO NOT SAND philosophy of life) is to stain and varnish the sole. Each coat was added without any sanding between layers. There were TINY little bubbles and they provide traction. They look shiny, but they are not slick.

Honestly though I should redo them soon. It's on my list of things to do but other things keep rising up that ladder and become larger priorities.

If you hate sanding as much as I do, varnishing without sanding between coats is something to consider. And no, the bubbles are invisible. They don't show. Slick decks are dangerous.

I don’t think that it is necessarily any more prevalent than in years past. We are just more aware. History is filled with average folks who end up dying from a simple injury and infection.

And in years past, people died much younger than they do now. That's probably why we didn't hear so much about these things. When the red streak of inflammation/infection heads toward your heart or groin, life is in peril. Seek medical help immediately.

Infections can rapidly go from not-so-bad to critical. It's a good thing Fryedaze was on top of this. And a huge thanks for the reminder. Even a healthy immune system can sometimes be overwhelmed.

I didn't know there was a difference in those medicated band-aids. I have a package of the dollar store variety and will upgrade. Thanks BandB.

 

[Moondance]

Bleach

Keep a bleach solution on the boat at all times and immediately douse any cuts, punctures or abrasions. There are ma y different kinds of infections from barnacles, bait, fish and many other things we never hear about until it attacks us. Be proactive.

 

[jimisbell]

There is another whole group of people who work in nasty conditions all day, get multiple cuts all week, some serious...... dont use band aids regular or super and just keep plodding along with no more wound care than wiping with a dirty rag.

It may not be smart, but dont feel bad if you fit this category instead of the other....

You know like Mike Rowe in Dirty Jobs.....

As a teenager on the west coast, before EPA, I went swimming in a sewage pond on the beach. The city just pumped the raw sewage into a"slough" that was washed out to sea at high tide. The water was warmer than the Pacific which was always below 68F. My mother forbid us to swim there and we were always astounded that she could tell when we walked in the house where we had been.....LOL. But we ignored her and swam there anyway. I am now 82 years old and have an immune system made of cast iron. I figure that as a teenager I was exposed to almost everything that I could have been and am now stronger for it. My sister is also quite healthy and she is 79.

 

[sdowney717]

As a teenager on the west coast, before EPA, I went swimming in a sewage pond on the beach. The city just pumped the raw sewage into a"slough" that was washed out to sea at high tide. The water was warmer than the Pacific which was always below 68F. My mother forbid us to swim there and we were always astounded that she could tell when we walked in the house where we had been.....LOL. But we ignored her and swam there anyway. I am now 82 years old and have an immune system made of cast iron. I figure that as a teenager I was exposed to almost everything that I could have been and am now stronger for it. My sister is also quite healthy and she is 79.

yes, I was reading scientists now think they know what causes childhood Acute Lymphocytic Leukemias, not enough exposure to the close contact with many various people they live too sheltered a life at home. Not recommending such strong exposure as you did for anyone.

 

[jimisbell]

yes, I was reading scientists now think they know what causes childhood Acute Lymphocytic Leukemias, not enough exposure to the close contact with many various people they live too sheltered a life at home. Not recommending such strong exposure as you did for anyone.

Yeah, that was pretty extreme. I would have killed my kids if they had done that and a strong immune system would not have protected them....LOL

 

[BandB]

Now Seaweed's sole is NOT SPIFFY SHINY. Years ago I was on an Island Packet and dang near broke myself. The floor was so slick I almost took a full blown tumble.

Nice office buildings are the worst. Waxed, shined and then it rains. So they have to go grab runners to put all around to offset the slick shiny surface.

 

[Group9]

My wife got a nasty infection in Bimini a couple of years ago that infected a tiny cut on her eye. We had to rush home and six weeks of intensive antibiotic treatment barely saved her eye, but did end up degrading her vision. It was not vibrio, but was related to it, according to the six doctors that ended up treating her. I can’t remember the exact name of the bacteria it turned out to be, but it was pretty scary.

 

[BandB]

I don't think these infectious conditions are any more frequent but we just recognize them better. The good part of that is then we often can prevent a more serious result. There's still a lot of mystery but at least we learn a little more along the way.

I think of one grouping of diseases and that is fibrotic lung diseases. We don't know the causes of many of them. However, we learn new sensitivities along the way from asbestos so hot tubs to birds/aviary. I know one lady who was told my a local Pulmonologist her condition was terminal, hand no more than a couple of years, and no treatment or cure. She went to a center with experts and was told she had hypersensitive pneumonitis and if she wanted to live she'd have to rehome her birds. She did so and immediately saw improvement and 10+ years later is fine.

I look at the OP's post and others in this thread and see examples that took more than one doctor to figure out and that could have been tragic. Sometimes then you think back to people you knew and wonder what might have caused their severe illness or death.

We know so little but we do know more than we did.

 

[dhays]

I look at the OP's post and others in this thread and see examples that took more than one doctor to figure out and that could have been tragic. Sometimes then you think back to people you knew and wonder what might have caused their severe illness or death.



We know so little but we do know more than we did.

So true.

I’m a generalist health care provider. That means I know a little about a lot of stuff. If also means that I will get stumped by patient’s conditions at times. When that happens I simply tell the patient that “I don’t know”. I’m not in practice to stroke my ego, but to take care of my patients. There are plenty of sub-specialists that know a lot about a very little. Those are the folks I send the confusing cases to.

I saw a patient yesterday that has a very rare retinal condition. She was a new patient to me and fortunately came with a diagnosis. I was handling her more mundane eye issues and she asked my opinion on her retinal condition. She was asking me to second guess the professional opinion of one of the best retinal specialists in the PNW and someone who has treated more of these patients than just about anyone. There are probably no more than 600 cases of this in the US at a time. I finally had to stop the patient and tell her that I am NOT the person to second guess the specialist. They are specialists for a reason!

Anyway, we all get it wrong at times. The trick as a provider is to know when to get another opinion from someone with more experience with the condition you are facing. As patients, the trick is to not find the smartest Doc in town, but to find the Doc whose concern for their patients is more important than their ego.