We have become aware that many paddlers and surfers are getting cut and infected with staph. Some of these are MRSA and resistant to most antibiotics.
If this has happened to you, please let me hear from you. The department of health does not and will not keep score until such a time we can prove there is a problem.
Lets get on this and clean up our ocean before we all get sick.
Mahalo.
Dr. Rick
Submitted by Dr Rick on Thu, 09/06/2007 - 11:09am
For some reason I have never been too susceptable to staph. Either that or it affects me only to a degree to where it is unrecognizable. I usually launch from Magic Island, and before the big sewage spill, every once in a while from the park at the end of University Ave. One thing I've noticed over the years is that many of my haole friends have had it, and are very wary of open wounds and where they enter the water.
When I was a kid they always used to tell us to go to the beach to help heal our strawberries. I never hear people say that anymore. I blame the Super Ferry. I guess I'll shut up now.
#1 Thu, 09/06/2007 - 12:24pm
I've been paddling out of the Ala Wai for the past 5 yrs... never had staph.
#2 Thu, 09/06/2007 - 3:55pm
damn super ferry...
#3 Thu, 09/06/2007 - 5:54pm
thought it was the corollas stirring things up in the ala wai. (joking)
seriously, staff is one of those things that can just be prevented with soap and water. i've paddled, swam, and been thrown in the ala wai for various reasons over the past 19 years, and I have never had a staff infection.
But that's just me, the toughest guy around. (joking)
#4 Thu, 09/06/2007 - 6:55pm
THe department of health has said there has been a large number of staph infections recently in the ala wai.
Jc9 is right. Every person that I know that got staph had poor hygiene. So clean up the poop...
#5 Thu, 09/06/2007 - 9:15pm
I got staph paddling in the Ala Wai back in 1992. Since then I've been feeding it steady doses of arythromycin, methycillin, and vancomycin until it's on the verge of going away, then nursing it back to full strength. About two more weeks, and I'll be ready to re-release it back into the wild...
I want to love him, and squeeze him and pet him, and call him George!
#6 Thu, 09/06/2007 - 9:22pm
i used to know a staph infection named george. but it retired.
#7 Thu, 09/06/2007 - 10:06pm
poopoo,
the reason for the large numbe rof staph infections in the ala wai is two week ago we were practicing in there by the pipe and there was sewage floating by.
The city and state denied that there was but coach cut practice short cause of it.
And on wednesday we were in there and it smelled worse then normal
From back in the day when i was a kid paddling in there to now, it has definatley gotten worse
#8 Fri, 09/07/2007 - 8:27am
We in Kona are experiencing a large # of infections this whole long distance season. I had a tiny knife cut from onions & it just got nasty! The doctor I went to tested it & it came back as Strep(like the stuff from strep throat). Apparently because our water here in Hawaii is so warm many different bacteria are out there all the time. If you're in it for a long enough period of time /w a cut you're bound to be exposed.
#9 Fri, 09/07/2007 - 9:58am
poiboi,
By sewage, do you mean feces? When I paddled back into Magic Island yesterday afternoon, I saw what looked like a small turd floating by the small beach on the DH side of the harbor. Could have been something else , but...
#10 Sat, 09/08/2007 - 5:54am
bluesea,
it was basically a layer or sewage/feces on the top of the water.
not very nice at all
#11 Sun, 09/09/2007 - 6:31am
Poiboy, the pipe in the alawai rarely is ever used. Its an emergency overflow pipe and is only used when the normal sewage system is broken. I don't think the pipe was used yet. So it probably was not sewage you saw. Maybe it was me since I am poopoo.
#12 Sun, 09/09/2007 - 11:18pm
Colloidial silver water, taken both internally and topically, works amazing. Had staph plenty over the pasts 5 or so years. I paddleboard, and have had staph on all limbs, and most recently IN my nose after the Molokai race this past summer, it got gnarly but the silver water cleared it right up. I believe it doesn't kill the bacteria directly, it blocks their reproduction. Any others who've had luck with the stuff?
#13 Wed, 02/06/2008 - 11:35pm
Maybe so let doctor rick collect some data ...and material for his next stand-up comedy routine before we start liquefying the silverware into a tasty healthy treat..
#14 Fri, 02/08/2008 - 6:25am
I got staph all over my back after eating it at Point Panic back in the mid 80's. Ended up in emergency with 4 stitches in my head. That healed well but my back was a mess. Antibiotics took care of that. It's true we used to go to the beach to "heal" our wounds way back when. You can still find some pristine places on Oahu to do that but the ocean is not as clean as it used to be. Please don't blame it on the Superferry. We created the pollution, it's up to us to clean it up. Okay I'll shut up now.
#15 Fri, 02/08/2008 - 9:39am
I got a paper cut yesterday.
#16 Fri, 02/08/2008 - 3:06pm
Scientists have recently discovered thatwhen you take antibiotics staph may hide in your own cells, waiting for the time they can come out again... that's why some people always get staph infections at the same place...
BTW never paddle in a OC if a paddler is staph infected, you might be the next.
#17 Thu, 02/14/2008 - 1:08pm
paddling in kailua (in the canal) and in town (out of the ala wai), there seems to be at least one paddler that gets staph each season. i personally have not (knock on wood), but it's clearly an issue for paddlers, not only on the ala wai.
nice bugs bunny reference, goto.
#18 Thu, 02/14/2008 - 2:49pm
I got it two weeks ago and am slowly recovering.
As far as I know I showed no symptoms prior to practice. I felt a slight pain on the outside of my left thigh under the boat covers, but dismissed it. We finished practice after dark. I rinsed with fresh water and went home to an immediate warm shower. By the time I got out of the shower and dried off there was a raise red soar on my leg with a red circle about the size of a pingpong ball. I dismissed it as a spider bite, remembering the initial pain inside the canoe earlier. By the next evening the spot had grown to the size of a baseball and by the time I went to the ER that night it was the size of a softball. I was immediately put on several antibiotics.
It's now been two weeks. I have had the thing lanced twice. I have been on 4 different antibiotics. And only as of a day or two ago did it show any major signs of improvement. I hope to see all the swelling and draining done tomorrow; so I can pull the packing out and let the bullet sized hole in my leg begin to close.
#19 Sat, 04/19/2008 - 11:28pm
Huki,
Need to be careful with the colloidal silver. You can get Argyria and end up looking like this guy.
#20 Sat, 04/19/2008 - 11:20pm
Man that sounds unpleasant.
#21 Sun, 04/20/2008 - 8:48am
Sorry to hear about the infection.
Let me guess, because the water is rough you guys are using the covers on the OC6 canoes during practice. After practice the covers are left on the boats and just rinsed off, because, well, tomorrow the women's team have practice and will need to put them on anyway.
And the women do the same thing for you guys. But, someone didn't hose off the canoes good enough, or not at all in side the canvas.
Check out this video link of an infection being drained.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dc15e4b191
#22 Sun, 04/20/2008 - 11:09am
I was just getting ready to eat lunch.
#23 Sun, 04/20/2008 - 11:06am
I wish my original lancing had been that thorough. It would have probably prevented the second lancing. The first one was a tiny little puka and the doc only gave it one squeeze.
#24 Sun, 04/20/2008 - 12:43pm
Kdkoors,
The guy with Argyria took huge amounts of colloidial silver water everyday for years to develop that condition. The equivalent of getting lung cancer from smoking for 20 years. The key to colloidial silver is only when you need it. Its unfortunate that the worlds use of pharmaceuticals has forced bacteria to evolve to the present state. As a result we have to deal with some very unforgiving bacteria strains. Sorry to hear about your recent episode, best luck in your healing process. :)
#25 Sun, 04/20/2008 - 9:00pm
my cousin once got staph in her EYE.
after paddling in the ala wai.
but true, it could have been prevented if she had better hygiene.
#26 Thu, 05/08/2008 - 8:05pm
I knew a paddler that got staph in her eye. but then again she popped her contact back in after it fell out onto the bottom of the canoe.
Stupid is as stupid does.
#27 Thu, 05/08/2008 - 9:05pm
I had MRSA staph off and on again for about a year back in 2005. It got really bad and finally had to go in for surgery to have it drained and cut out of my back. IV antibiotics for two weeks and ugly deep scars on my back. It was real bad and if it got any worse it could be life threatening. Be careful with that stuff. It is very contagious as well.
I haven't had any problems for a couple of years and the best advise that has worked for me is to take very hot hot showers and of course soap. If you get any sign of an infection blast it with hot hot water. The hottest you can stand and as often as possible. Needless to say after any workout especially the Ala Wai, even if you only drive by the Ala Wai.
Good luck, stay clean, hot water!
#28 Fri, 05/09/2008 - 9:53am