I have been reading up on this, pretty gross stuff. I wanted to know why, as opposed to just seeing pics of it. It can turn up in lots of places, and can actually require a trip to the hospital if you get in inside your bloodstream. be careful, fellas.




"Malnutrition makes the population vulnerable to mycobacteriosis, a disease that causes loss of scales, skin ulcers, severe weight loss and lesions. Officials estimate that sixty to seventy-five percent of the striped bass in Chesapeake Bay are infected.

Fish Handler’s Disease

Last week Artie Peltier of Erickson’s Bait & Tackle of Warwick related a story about a customer that caught a bacterial infection, he thinks from a striped bass when he was cut handling the fish. Artie related that he and customers are seeing more ulcers and lesions on fish. His claim has merit as the striped bass plague mentioned above moves up the east coast from the Chesapeake. Some anglers have caught “fish-handler's disease”. It is totally treatable and a common ailment of those working in a marine environment, salt or freshwater.

According to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (they have spent a lot of time studying Chesapeake Bay striped bass and mycobacteriosis) primary symptoms of the infection in humans includes infections of the skin and soft tissues. Infections typically become evident as reddish raised nodules on the hands, elbows, knees, and feet. In many instances the joints may also become swollen. The good news is that there is no evidence that humans can contact mycobacteriosis by consumption of cooked fish that is infected. However, because the infection can be transmitted when handling infected fish, any fish that exhibits external signs of infection should be released or disposed of."