IT鈥橲 not just monster sharks you have to watch out for. A humble fish bite
has led to a diver becoming infected by a marine bacterium not previously known
to cause human disease, say Swiss and Australian researchers.
The victim, a 55-year-old woman, was diving off the Maldive Islands when she
was bitten on her ankle. The infection caused serious swelling. The bacteria
couldn鈥檛 be identified by standard tests, but their DNA revealed that they were
Halomonas venusta (Journal of Clinical Microbiology, vol 38, p
3123).
鈥淚t鈥檚 an example of how exotic pathogens can do unexpected things. She was
lucky because this organism is comparatively harmless,鈥� says microbiologist John
Bowman of the University of Tasmania in Hobart. The woman was given intravenous
antibiotics and she recovered fully.
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