They’re actually venomous glands located around the dorsal and pectoral fins. Catfish – Venomous Spines The venom of the catfish is in the spines on the back and side fins, not in its “whiskers.” Stings usually occur on people's hands and feet when they lose their grip on the fish while removing a hook. Boston Medical Center, One Boston Medical Center Place, Boston, MA, 02118, USA, Sound Shore Medical Center, 16 Guion Place, New Rochelle, NY, 10802, USA, Beth Israel Medical Center, Milton and Carroll Petrie Division, First Avenue at 16th Street, New York, NY, 10003, USA, You can also search for this author in Growing up, neighbors and family would go on fishing trips and catch so many catfish that they didn’t feel like cleaning them all. The affected extremity should then be splinted and the patient closely monitored. Article At a 12-month telephone follow-up, the patient denied developing further symptoms and reported that the wound had healed completely without complication.
A variety of organisms have been reported to be responsible for causing secondary infection, including Klebsiella, Erysipelothrix, Nocardia, Chromobacterium, Sporothrix, Actinomyces, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, Morganella, Edwardsiella[7], Mycobacterium[9], Aeromonas, and Vibrio species [7]. Please refresh the page and try again. Almost all catfish have the ability to inflict extremely painful wounds with their pectoral and dorsal spines (Figure 2). Receive news and offers from our other brands? Those toxins in catfish skin secretions have been shown to accelerate wound healing in humans, so it’s possible that the proteins from their venom glands could have similar properties. Both saltwater and freshwater catfish stings are dangerous. Prokaryotes. Symptoms range from the localized, short-lived inflammatory effects of envenomation to the more severe systemic, long-term complications of secondary bacterial infection. Discover what to do if you encounter these dangers and how to keep yourself safe while hiking, swimming, and participating in outdoor activities. The main dangers to humans from North American catfish, however, come not from the initial sting and inflammation, but from secondary bacterial and fungal infections that can be introduced through the puncture wound or when pieces of the spine and other tissue break off in the wound, said University of Michigan graduate student Jeremy Wright, who led the research. After substantial relief of symptoms and reduced signs, including less erythema and induration, and normalization of the WBC, the patient was discharged and prescribed a 10-day course of oral ciprofloxacin and amoxicillin-clavulanate. Therefore, as illustrated by this case, empiric antibiotic treatment for these infections should include, in addition to Gram-positive coverage for Streptococcus and Staphylococcus, broad-spectrum Gram-negative coverage. 2001, 25 (4): 325-326. A 52-year-old Chinese-American man was hospitalized with erythema and swelling of his right arm of 10 days’ duration after skin penetration by a catfish barb. He had picked up a live channel catfish (I. punctatus) from a fish tank with his ungloved right hand, after which he was stung in the right nail groove of his thumb by the spine of the catfish.
Catfish venom glands are found alongside sharp, bony spines on the edges of the dorsal and pectoral fins, and these spines can be locked into place when the catfish is threatened. PubMed If you got finned to the point that part of the fin broke off, remove it like you would a splinter. A 52-year-old immunocompetent Chinese-American man with no significant past medical history, including an absence of chronic diseases, was injured while handling a catfish 10 days prior to admission while working as a fishmonger in a New York City supermarket. Catfish stings to the hand Catfish skin toxin and the yenom from their dorsal and pectoral spines may cause a menacing sting. In addition, the toxic proteins show strong similarities with, and might be derived from, previously characterized toxins found in catfish skin secretions. Food Control. For me, the best way to hold a catfish is under the belly behind its pectoral fins. Right thumb radiographs taken on admission to the hospital.
Typically, it is the smaller-sized catfish that cause unintentional stinging due to poor … Springer Nature. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. Laboratory studies revealed elevated white blood count, sedimentation rate, and C-reactive protein. Nguyen HNK, Hung LT, Lazard J, Montet D: Antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative bacteria isolated from farmed catfish. X-ray views of the thumb were negative for foreign body and gas (Figure 1). Luckily for me, my mom found me before things got too bad. They vary greatly in their adaptations to different ecological conditions. The hand is the most common site of catfish stings. A new study by University of Michigan graduate student Jeremy Wright finds that at least 1,250 and possibly more than 1,600 species of catfish may be venomous, far more than previously believed. Stay up to date on the coronavirus outbreak by signing up to our newsletter today. Systemic manifestations are rare, and the majority of cases resolve without long-term sequelae [6]. The suspicion arose because in addition to the positive wound cultures for these organisms, the patient’s condition worsened after outpatient therapy with amoxicillin-clavulanate, to which M. morganii was resistant, and improved only after having received broad spectrum Gram-negative coverage with tobramycin and ciprofloxacin, which are antibiotics that target both bacteria. Below are the links to the authors’ original submitted files for images. They can grab your thumb and hold on to it until it gets very discomforting and sometimes down right painful.
You may see a product called witch hazel water (Hamamelis water, distilled witch hazel extract). He was subsequently discharged on a 10-day course of oral ciprofloxacin and amoxicillin-clavulanate. Elsewhere in the world, a few catfish species can even kill humans.
Although an infrequent occurrence, the most serious long-term complications of catfish envenomations involve infections.
Toxicon. Empiric intravenous antibiotics are administered to cover common aquatic organisms. Most species of catfishes have stingers near their dorsal and pectoral fins to ward-off predators. They most definitely are and I got stung by one when I was 6 years old and it cost me a visit to the hospital. 412 Maynard St.
Halstead BW: Poisonous and Venomous Marine Animals of the World. J Med Case Reports 7, 122 (2013). Effects included profuse bleeding [25], severe pain [4,28], infection [26,27], dry gangrene [29] and a possible anaphylactic reaction in a fish guide (with a history of stings) who later tested positive to several fractions from a catfish fin extract [4]. For this reason, I do not recommend lippin a catfish. When a spine jabs a potential predator, the membrane surrounding the venom gland cells is torn, releasing venom into the wound. The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Receive mail from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors? You will receive a verification email shortly. A MEDLINE search over the past 30 years identified only two other case reports of M. morganii infection following catfish envenomation [13]. Appl Environ Microbiol. Initial treatment of catfish envenomation should include aggressive cleaning of the wound and the surrounding area, with an attempt to remove any remnants of spinal sheath, as this radiolucent organic matter may promote inflammation and harbor virulent waterborne organisms.
All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The ibuprofen that he was taking for pain control likely served as an anti-pyretic and obscured possible fever. I knew immediately after being stung that something happened because it burns a lot.
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