Nasty Bacteria In Chesapeake Bay Waters

"It was just last Saturday that I was sitting down with Capt. Bob Ford and Capt.
Warren Tilton enjoying a couple of cold ones after a long day fishing at a small
restaurant in Princess Anne when it came up. Capt. Ford started telling a story
about how his arm got infected after sticking his arm in a live well full of
spot. It would seem that he had a small cut on him arm and the water he stuck
his arm into was contaminated with vibrio bacteria. He shortly there after
became very sick and when he finally made it to the doctor and they did a test
on him which at that time they found the bacteria. He explained that if he
waited any longer he would have lost his arm to the infection that ensued from
the vibrio bacteria. I was extremely floored over this as at that time I was
just getting over a very nasty infection in my finger I got after I got poked by
a rockfish fin on a fishing trip that Capt. Tilton and I were on 3 weeks prior.
A day after my finger got poked it started aching and within 3 days it was swollen to 2 times the normal size. It took 3 weeks for my finger to completely get back to its regular size. Capt. Tilton then told us that it happened to him a year before and he knew another captain it affected after getting poked by a fish 2 years ago. Capt. Ford went to the doctor and we know for a fact that it was vibrio bacteria that affected him but I did a little research of my own as my infection was bad but
not life threatening as Capt. Ford’s. It would seem that I was infected by
mycobacteria. This also is a nasty little bacterium that has been known for years as fish handler’s disease. I just wanted to let people know even though you may have fished for years please take precautions while handling fish. I personally do not handle fish without gloves anymore as my infection in my finger was very painful and I don’t want that to happen again and god forbid if I got infected with the vibrio bacteria. Please take a look at the two links below for any questions you may have on these nasty bacteria strains that are obviously in our tidal waters of the Chesapeake.

Sincerely,

Ted Hastings"

http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/vibriop_gi.html

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/dnrnews/infocus/striped_bass_health.asp