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Envenoming by a Marine Blood Worm (Glycera)
Bites from venomous marine annelid ‘bloodworms’ (e.g., Glycera spp.) do not appear to have been described in the medical literature despite being seemingly well-known to bait diggers and fishermen. The few laboratory study reports describe their venom composition and physiological effects in vitro t...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9319062/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35878233 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins14070495 |
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author | Durkin, Daniela M. Young, Alison N. Khtikian, Kent Karjala, Zuzana Isenstein, Arin L. Fry, Bryan G. Lewin, Matthew R. |
author_facet | Durkin, Daniela M. Young, Alison N. Khtikian, Kent Karjala, Zuzana Isenstein, Arin L. Fry, Bryan G. Lewin, Matthew R. |
author_sort | Durkin, Daniela M. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Bites from venomous marine annelid ‘bloodworms’ (e.g., Glycera spp.) do not appear to have been described in the medical literature despite being seemingly well-known to bait diggers and fishermen. The few laboratory study reports describe their venom composition and physiological effects in vitro to be primarily proteolytic enzymes and neurotoxins apparently used for predation and defense. Herein, we present the report of a symptomatic envenoming suffered by a marine ecologist bitten while performing her field research. The local effects included a rapid onset of pain, swelling, and numbness at the bite site “as if injected with local anesthetic”. Additional signs and symptoms appearing over a two-week period were consistent with both delayed venom effects and potentially secondary infection. The late signs and symptoms resolved during a course of antibiotic treatment with doxycycline prescribed as a precaution and lack of resources to consider a wound culture. Comments about annelid bites sporadically appear in the popular literature, especially pertaining to the fishing industry, under names such as ‘bait-diggers hand’. While these bites are not known to be dangerously venomous, they seem to produce painful local symptoms and possibly increase the risk of marine bacterial infections that could be associated with more serious outcomes. More cases need to be formally described to better understand the natural history of these types of envenomation. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9319062 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-93190622022-07-27 Envenoming by a Marine Blood Worm (Glycera) Durkin, Daniela M. Young, Alison N. Khtikian, Kent Karjala, Zuzana Isenstein, Arin L. Fry, Bryan G. Lewin, Matthew R. Toxins (Basel) Case Report Bites from venomous marine annelid ‘bloodworms’ (e.g., Glycera spp.) do not appear to have been described in the medical literature despite being seemingly well-known to bait diggers and fishermen. The few laboratory study reports describe their venom composition and physiological effects in vitro to be primarily proteolytic enzymes and neurotoxins apparently used for predation and defense. Herein, we present the report of a symptomatic envenoming suffered by a marine ecologist bitten while performing her field research. The local effects included a rapid onset of pain, swelling, and numbness at the bite site “as if injected with local anesthetic”. Additional signs and symptoms appearing over a two-week period were consistent with both delayed venom effects and potentially secondary infection. The late signs and symptoms resolved during a course of antibiotic treatment with doxycycline prescribed as a precaution and lack of resources to consider a wound culture. Comments about annelid bites sporadically appear in the popular literature, especially pertaining to the fishing industry, under names such as ‘bait-diggers hand’. While these bites are not known to be dangerously venomous, they seem to produce painful local symptoms and possibly increase the risk of marine bacterial infections that could be associated with more serious outcomes. More cases need to be formally described to better understand the natural history of these types of envenomation. MDPI 2022-07-17 /pmc/articles/PMC9319062/ /pubmed/35878233 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins14070495 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Case Report Durkin, Daniela M. Young, Alison N. Khtikian, Kent Karjala, Zuzana Isenstein, Arin L. Fry, Bryan G. Lewin, Matthew R. Envenoming by a Marine Blood Worm (Glycera) |
title | Envenoming by a Marine Blood Worm (Glycera) |
title_full | Envenoming by a Marine Blood Worm (Glycera) |
title_fullStr | Envenoming by a Marine Blood Worm (Glycera) |
title_full_unstemmed | Envenoming by a Marine Blood Worm (Glycera) |
title_short | Envenoming by a Marine Blood Worm (Glycera) |
title_sort | envenoming by a marine blood worm (glycera) |
topic | Case Report |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9319062/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35878233 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins14070495 |
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