{"id":350,"date":"2020-06-24T09:31:20","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T13:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/waterborne-hazards-control\/?page_id=350"},"modified":"2020-06-24T09:31:20","modified_gmt":"2020-06-24T13:31:20","slug":"mycobacteria","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/waterborne-hazards-control\/recreational-water-illnesses\/mycobacteria\/","title":{"rendered":"Mycobacteria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>What You Should Know <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mycobacteria are a group of bacteria that may cause illness in people.\u00a0 Tuberculosis is the most well-known illness caused by one of the bacteria in the mycobacteria group.\u00a0 Other types of mycobacteria, called nontuberculous mycobacteria, may cause illnesses in people that are different from tuberculosis.\u00a0 Nontuberculous mycobacteria are found in many places including coastal waters, swimming pools and tropical fish aquariums.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What illnesses do nontuberculous mycobacteria cause? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Certain kinds of nontuberculous mycobacteria may cause skin infections.\u00a0 These infections may look like open sores, red lumps, or red rashes.\u00a0 The skin infections are usually on the fingers, hands, elbows, knees, and feet.\u00a0 If untreated, nontuberculous mycobacteria may spread to people\u2019s joints or bones.\u00a0 People with weak immune systems have a greater risk of infection spreading to other parts of their bodies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How do you get infected with nontuberculous mycobacteria? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>People become infected when water containing the bacteria comes into contact with cuts or open sores on the skin.\u00a0 The bacteria may be in swimming pools, aquariums, or coastal waters.\u00a0 People may also get infected by handling infected fish.\u00a0 These fish may also have open sores on their skin.\u00a0 As a result, the illness is nicknamed such things as \u201cfish handler\u2019s disease\u201d and \u201caquarium handler\u2019s disease.\u201d\u00a0 Nontuberculous mycobacteria that cause skin infections do not spread from one person to another.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How are nontuberculous mycobacteria infections treated? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Minor infections may simply heal on their own or with heat placed on the area of infection.\u00a0 Other infections should be treated with antibiotics.\u00a0 More serious infections may require surgery to cure.\u00a0 Telling your doctor about contact with water or fish may help him\/her treat the infection properly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How long does it take for a nontuberculous mycobacteria skin infection to heal? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Usually the sooner an infection is treated, the sooner the infection will clear up. Delay in treating may cause the skin infection to last for weeks to months and require a long course of antibiotics.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How can nontuberculous mycobacteria be prevented? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The best way to prevent infections is by wearing gloves when fishing and washing thoroughly with soap and water after coming into contact with fish, aquariums, swimming pools, or coastal waters.\u00a0 People with weak immune systems should be especially careful to take precautions when coming into contact with water that may contain nontuberculous mycobacteria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What You Should Know Mycobacteria are a group of bacteria that may cause illness in people.\u00a0 Tuberculosis is the most well-known illness caused by one of the bacteria in the mycobacteria group.\u00a0 Other types of mycobacteria, called nontuberculous mycobacteria, may cause illnesses in people that are different from tuberculosis.\u00a0 Nontuberculous mycobacteria are found in many [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"parent":75,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-350","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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