Seal finger

Seal finger, also known as sealer's finger and spekk-finger (from the Norwegian for "blubber"), is an infection that afflicts the fingers of sealers and other people who handle pinnipeds, as a result of bites or contact with exposed seal bones; it has also been contracted by exposure to untreated seal pelts. It can cause cellulitis, debilitating joint inflammation, and edema of the bone marrow; historically, seal finger was treated by amputation of the afflicted digits once they became unusable.

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The precise nature of the organism responsible for seal finger is unknown, as it has resisted culturing; however, as seal finger can be treated with tetracycline or similar antibiotics, the causative organism is most likely bacterial, or possibly fungal; in 1998, Baker, Ruoff, and Madoff showed that the organism is most likely a species of Mycoplasma called Mycoplasma phocacerebrale. This mycoplasma was isolated in an epidemic of seal disease occurring in the Baltic Sea.

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