Thanks for the Infection

[Chaz]

There are no native recluses in PA.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Chaz wrote:
There are no native recluses in PA.

Don't be so sure.....

From this article:

"To address the issue of brown recluse distribution, Saupe and other researchers used a predictive mapping technique called ecological niche modeling. They applied future climate change scenarios to the spider's known distribution in the Midwest and southern United States. The researchers concluded that the range may expand northward, potentially invading previously unaffected regions. Newly influenced areas may include parts of Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, South Dakota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania."

 

[SBecker]

Chaz wrote:
There are no native recluses in PA.

I heard they were coming to eat your brookies.

 

[geebee]

Drink your local tap water and eat your local organic honey. That should protect you from most allergens. Take priobotics daily too.

No help with spiders or blood poisoning from a rusty hook or nail though...

 

[barrybarry]

I've read these type of wet wading post's for a few years now and I hope everything works out for you.

I fish lower susky quite a bit and I can't imagine any way to avoid the water.

Whether it's holding a cat to release it or putting a canoe in the water or wetting a knot...it doesn't make difference. You're going to contact the water.

A lot of people swim in the river. (including me) I've always taken my kids to the river on hot days to play in the water.

I haven't done that with my youngest. I think I've been reading too much.

No answers here. But I do have a lot of questions.

 

[the_last_waltz]

I wet wade probably more then anyone you guys know, so this is really interesting to me. I have been doing it since I was 10 or 12, and don't really have any plans on stopping any time soon, even after reading this. I don't do any freshwater swimming, I have always been worried about swallowing any sum of water, but wading and fishing have always seemed pretty safe to me. If anything I worry slightly about my pee hole. Heck, all summer my 7yo wet wades with me smallie fishing, but i think he might also eat dirt... Regardless, I have yet to catch anything.

It sounds like it might not even be water related. Did the doctor say it was definitely water related, or could it have been a bite? Did they do a culture to see exactly what was causing the infection? Regardless, get better man.

And what patrick said about antibiotics is really interesting. I agree 100% after having a long, kinda drunk, conversation with a doctor one night playing cards. He kind of opened up my eyes, he also said one of the worst things is that people take only part of their antibiotic prescription, not that it is exactly related to this.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Chaz, What else do u not believe?

 

[Chaz]

The brown recluse spider is NOT native to PA, itwill travel in crates of oranges, but it is a southern species it's native range is the south.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Loxosceles_reclusa_range.png

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_recluse_spider

 

[Fishidiot]

I doubt Jakes' injury is a brown recluse spider bite.
I saw quite a few of these bites on buddies at Ft Benning GA and the bite site would be reddish followed by very localized necrotizing that required frequent bandage changes. Some of these bites remained chronic wounds for days or weeks but didn't seem to have effects beyond the immediate bite site (in my experience).

My guess would be that Jakes' problem is basically an infection caused by waterborne bacteria that entered a break in the skin. I still wet wade but am very careful about cuts and injuries and use ample quantities of peroxide if I get an injury while fishing.

 

[PatrickC]

the_last_waltz wrote:
I agree 100% after having a long, kinda drunk, conversation with a doctor one night playing cards...

I just want to point out that was not me ;-) Now if he had said "a kinda cigar smoking conversation..." :-D

Hard to say how his infection started. Could have been an unnoticed crack in the skin, could have been a bite, could be a zillion things. The real take away is that he had a [color=990000]painful red hot swollen [/color]digit and did something about it before it needed opened up. If nothing else....please get that out of this thread. I tell people all of the time, "stop trying to be Superman and get these things checked out." Infection is opportunistic. Sometimes we just don't realize how out of whack things in our bodies are and when we think it can't happen to us...we leave the hospital without all of the body parts we entered with. Be smart!

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Chaz, the Python is not native to Florida and yet they still have them!! Asian Carp are not native to America and yet they are thriving in the Mississippi, and also the snakehead, etc. One day I came across a large yellowjacket that's body was almost as big as my thumb. It was taking on a cicadda at the time I interrupted it. Wonder where it came from? Japan??

The point here is that we should not let our guard down. And yet we should not surrender just because. Use caution as much as possible, and as Pat said: "Stop trying to be Superman (Superflyer)" get things checked out when they don't seam right.

 

[wildtrout2]

Pennypack, that was a cicada killer that you saw, not a large yellowjacket. It's actually a wasp, and it eats out the insides of a cicada and lays it's eggs inside the body cavity. You'll see them dragging the cicada down into their holes, which you'll see as a small mound of fine dirt. Usually you will see several/many holes. They will not harm you. I've worked around lots of them without incident.

 

[Mike]

My technique regarding 37 years plus of on the job cuts, gashes, bites, and punctures from all kinds of fish in all kinds of water, but often in water that is receiving considerable amounts of raw sewage, farm animal runoff, and street runoff has been to squeeze the heck out of the wound, making sure that it bleeds much more than it would naturally. Nature's cleanser. There is often no way to treat the wound on the spot or effectively, as we have a day ahead of us with hands in the water. Despite this, and including at the very least almost daily puncture wounds when working with spiny fin rayed fish, I have only had one infection requiring medical attention (antibiotics - orally). And, the worst slashes from stripers in the tidal Delaware have never caused a problem except that a couple of stitches would have been necessary on occasion if I had gone to a Dr.

 

[hammertime]

This time of year I'm more likely to die from heat stroke wearing waders.

On a completely unrelated note, I had an old (as in long time ago, not wrinkly old) girlfriend whose mother found a Black Widow spider in the bananas she got from the local grocery store. She actually made the paper for that. Anything's news up here.

 

[greenghost]

PatrickC wrote:
As a guy whom treats these exact types of infections, I can tell you I think we are getting soft as a species. Antibacterial EVERYTHING leads to more and more resistant strains and we (IMO) are not building any kind of immune system strength from using all of this crap. As with everything else we humans find useful, we can't just use antibiotics when truly needed, we have to exploit the resource. We run it into the ground and then render it and ultimately us useless.

I see more and more infections from normal environmental flora that our own bodies should have no problem keeping in check. I still wet wade because I refuse to fly fish in a bubble. If it comes to that...I'll just have to die from it :-/

BTW, this was not pointed at JakesLeakyWaders. I'm just ranting. I have no idea how you got infected bro. It is becoming all too common, unfortunately.

Agree 1000%. I have been wet wading for 40 plus years. Maybe I've been lucky. And I never wet wade with an own wound. But I also refuse to give in.