Health. Fiddler Spider Bites: "Some Necrosis Can Lead to Amputation"
The emergency medicine professionals' congress, held this week in Paris, focused on the little "critters" that can ruin your summer.
Some "critters" pose little-known health and logistical challenges. Illustrative photo Sipa/Mourad Allili
Scorpionfish, weever fish, scorpion, and even bedbugs: the congress of emergency medicine professionals, meeting this week in Paris, took stock of the "critters" that are clogging up emergency services and poisoning vacationers during the summer.
"Viper, black widow, scorpion, I have all of that in my area," says Pierre-Alexis Balaz, who works as an emergency doctor with the Marseille Marine Fire Brigade (BMPM). On the big screen, he projects photos of "really disgusting" necroses, as he puts it. This is a patient who came in for a consultation seven days after being bitten by a fiddler spider, he comments. "Some necroses can lead to amputation," he adds, specifying that this is not the case here.
“Risk of drowning” with the physaliaLucas Iglesias, educational advisor at the Basque Coast Hospital Center (CHCB), came to talk about weever fish, scorpion fish, and other marine annoyances. He explains, in particular, that the physalia is too often confused with a jellyfish. Blue-purple in color, its swollen and translucent appearance has earned it its more visual name, "sea bladder." Lucas Iglesias points out that its filaments, which carry burns and venom, can reach up to 50 meters in length.
"In three months in 2011, 885 people who suffered from it were recorded by the Bordeaux poison control center [according to the reference study, editor's note]. It's very painful and healing takes from 15 days to three months," the emergency physician explains. He points out "a risk of drowning" when the swimmer "loses control" under the influence of pain.
And to offer advice: the emergency doctor must "protect himself with gloves" when he intervenes, it is necessary to "bring out the filaments with shaving foam" or "scrape them with a bank card, for example." "You have to wash with sea water, fresh water activates the venom," he explains before recommending to surfers "the wetsuit, even if it's hot and sunny."
Weevers, scorpionfish... wear sea shoesWearing sea shoes is also recommended to avoid damage caused by scorpionfish, a fish found in rocky bottoms, or weeverfish, a fish found in sandy bottoms, which can cause stings/burns or venom. Fishermen and cooks who handle them must wear gloves.
And also... bedbugs!
David Ringot of the Paris Fire Brigade (BSPP) reveals that "one to two vehicles" of his department are "infested per week" by bedbugs, after interventions. "In the event of a massive infestation in a place where we intervene, adult bedbugs come out of their hiding places, can climb onto our bags, our uniforms, or onto patients, and end up in our vehicles," he explains. It's an obstacle course, then decontaminating the men and equipment of the emergency services. The equipment goes through a refrigerated trailer at -20°C (for up to 72 hours) or through an insecticide treatment.
Le Républicain Lorrain
