Thai Fish spa and lose all your toes due to Schwelmenella YIKES

I have never gone to a fish spa but I have seen hundreds of people enjoying the experience. I would have never guessed a 29 year old Australian girl would end up having all her toes on one foot amputated as a result. I will post the link which has several pictures of the poor girls foot but it is not for the squeamish .

This must be extremely rare as it is the first time I have heard of such a thing... There are many many people who do the fish spa thing with no problems..
www.thesun.co.uk...

Despite her declining state of health, it took doctors over a year to diagnose the disease as Schwelmenella, an infection which eats away at the bone, eventually forcing doctors to amputate the entire big toe in December 2012.

After the initial infection was removed through amputation, the pressure of walking on her smaller toes left Victoria with rough calluses and further infections, eventually leading to Victoria’s other four toes being removed over the course of the next five years.

Growing up in the country I swam in stock ponds and creeks not to mention occasionally drinking from fast flowing creeks. I never got sick but in today's world I would think twice before doing anything like that presently.
A short video for those who have never seen a fish Spa
youtu.be...

a reply to: 727Sky

I'm going to take a bet that the people in charge of the tank werent taking all the necessary care. It's still something likely to happen but the chance of course would be much higher if dirty.

a reply to: 727Sky

An internet search for "Schwelmenella" gives zero hits, except for this news article. It sounds fishy to me.

I managed to find a waterfall with similar fish in, seemed to nibble the same at l;east.

I believe she is lac toes intolerant.

originally posted by: Antipathy17
a reply to: 727Sky

I'm going to take a bet that the people in charge of the tank werent taking all the necessary care. It's still something likely to happen but the chance of course would be much higher if dirty.

Another thing I found weird was them saying it was a water-borne bug only found in Thailand... S.E. Asia is a big place and I have never known bugs to respect man made borders..

originally posted by: gusamaso
I believe she is lac toes intolerant.

I see what you did there.

Lesson number 1 : Do not use Piranha fish in fish spas.

originally posted by: gusamaso
I believe she is lac toes intolerant.

Don't you mean lack toes intolerant?

ETA Not trying to be a spelling Nazi but some letters matter.

originally posted by: LightSpeedDriver
a reply to: 727Sky

An internet search for "Schwelmenella" gives zero hits, except for this news article. It sounds fishy to me.

I'm guessing that maybe they mean Salmonella. If the pool was full of fish excrement, then that might account for the presence of that bacterium.

Apparently Salmonella can cause Osteomyelitis (Bone Infection). Though it is rare.

She became infected through an unhealed wound from a past surgery. Though it's not stated in the article, I suspect she had some other condition that may have lowered her resistance to this infection as well.



It's either that, or "Schwelmenella" is some kind of a cross between Salmonella and Thai stick. Too much of that Thai stick will alter anything's DNA.


-dex

Don't trust the water IN Thailand OR mexico.

a reply to: LightSpeedDriver

"Schwelmenella" sounds sorta jewey.

The video was a total of 8 pixels for me, but my brother was in thailand and went to one of these boutiques and never had an adverse issue.


Shwelmenella??

Sounds like a name that was coined while in desperation.


Whats worse than Cancer?

Uhh..."Schwancer"

Fish spas are banned in many US states / cities because there is no way to really by hygienic.

Stuff like this is rare though, so I wouldn't necessarily blame it on the fish spa directly. There may have been some other cause and the fish spa just exacerbated the situation.

There is always some story about someone catching some type of weird flesh eating disease. A few weeks ago, so some guy lost all his limbs because he got licked by his own dog. Always hear of a few cases of people catching a brain eating disease from lake swimming.

This incident is going to make it difficult to get my shark based barber shop off the ground.

Our aquarium platys are exceedingly tame and will nibble your fingers if you let them. I assume it has the same effect as a fish spa. We've never had any trouble.

And I agree that this has to be salmonella.

originally posted by: DexterRiley

originally posted by: LightSpeedDriver
a reply to: 727Sky

An internet search for "Schwelmenella" gives zero hits, except for this news article. It sounds fishy to me.

I'm guessing that maybe they mean Salmonella. If the pool was full of fish excrement, then that might account for the presence of that bacterium.

Apparently Salmonella can cause Osteomyelitis (Bone Infection). Though it is rare.

She became infected through an unhealed wound from a past surgery. Though it's not stated in the article, I suspect she had some other condition that may have lowered her resistance to this infection as well.



It's either that, or "Schwelmenella" is some kind of a cross between Salmonella and Thai stick. Too much of that Thai stick will alter anything's DNA.

-dex

Her doc did not do so swell man.

In many cases, antibiotics and pain medications effectively treat osteomyelitis. If a doctor obtains a biopsy, this can help guide the choice of the best antibiotic. The duration of treatment of osteomyelitis with antibiotics is usually four to eight weeks but varies with the type of infection and the response to the treatments. In some cases, the doctor will immobilize an affected area with a brace to reduce the pain and speed the treatment. Sometimes, surgery may be necessary. If there is an area of localized bacteria (bone abscess) or joint infection (septic arthritis), a doctor may need to open, wash, and drain it. If there is damaged soft tissue or bone, this may need to be removed (debridement). If it's necessary to remove bone, it may need to be replaced with bone graft or stabilized during surgery.

a reply to: howtonhawky

Thailand has all kinds of strains of drug resistant stuff.