A clean-looking fish tank can still harbor unwanted bacteria, notes a report in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Three months after cutting himself while cleaning a fish tank, a California man consulted a dermatologist about wartlike plaques on hisinjured finger and swollen nodules on that arm. The diagnosis: fish-tank granuloma, caused by the waterborne Mycobacteriumm marinum. It took a six-week dose of antibiotics to clear up the infection. Although the bacteria aren’t known to cause problems unless you have broken skin, it’s still wise to wash your hands after touching fish-tank water.
From Health News, Massachusetts Medical Society; reprinted from reader’s Digest.
— G.C.K.A. Newsletter, May 1998