An interesting & informative article ➥
Infection from barnacle scratches
Quote:
Originally Posted by Delancey
Yeah, I know. Just trying to keep a positive outlook. At least I'm not in the middle of the ocean. Worried a lot about this kind of thing happening on our crossing. Always look on the bright side!
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As Dave Barry said:
“When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command.
Very often, that individual is crazy. ”
I think the following instructions came from DAN.
CORAL AND BARNACLE CUTS
Cuts and scrapes from sharp-edged
coral and
barnacles tend to fester and become infected wounds. Treatment for these cuts is as follows:
1. Scrub the cut vigorously with soap and
water, and then fl ush the wound with large amounts of
water.
2. Flush the wound with a half-strength solution of hydrogen peroxide in water. Rinse again with water.
3. Apply a thin layer of bacitracin or mupirocin ointment, or mupirocin cream, and cover with a dry, sterile, nonadherent dressing.
If no ointment or dressing is available, the wound can be left open. Thereafter, it should be cleaned and redressed twice a day.
If the wound develops a poorly healing pus-laden crust, you can use wet-to-dry dressing changes to remove the upper nonhealing layer to expose healthy, healing tissue. This is done by putting a dry, sterile gauze pad over the wound (without any underlying ointment), soaking the gauze pad with saline or a dilute antiseptic solution (such as 1% to 5% povidone-iodine in disinfected water), allowing the liquid to dry, and then “brutally” ripping the bandage off the wound. The dead and dying tissue adheres to the gauze and is lifted free. The pink (hopefully), slightly bleeding tissue underneath should be healthy and healing.
Dressings are changed once or twice a day. Use wet-to-dry dressings for a few days, or until they become nonadherent. At that point, switch back to the treatment in the above paragraph.
4. If the wound shows signs of infection (extreme redness, pus, swollen lymph glands) within 24 to 48 hours after the injury, start the victim on an antibiotic to oppose Vibrio bacteria (e.g., ciprofl oxacin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, or doxycycline), as well as an antibiotic to oppose Staphylococcus bacteria (e.g., dicloxacillin or cephalexin).
Coral poisoning occurs if coral cuts are extensive or the cuts are from a particularly toxic species. The symptoms include a coral cut that heals poorly or continues to drain pus or cloudy fl uid, swelling around the cut, swollen lymph glands, fever, chills, and fatigue. An antibiotic (see step 4, directly above) should be started, and the victim seen by a physician, who may elect to treat the victim for a week or two with an oral corticosteroid.
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