c
eal Finger· - An unsolved
medical problem in Canada
by 8 . Beck and T. G. Smith
FISHERIES AND MARINE SERVICE
SERVICE DES PECHES ET DES SCIENCES DE LA MER
62 5
TECHNICAL REPORT No.
RAPPORT TECHNIQUE N°
1976
1+
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Canada
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TECHNICAL REPORT No. 625
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RAPPORT TECHNIQUE No. 625
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"Seal Finger"--An unsolved medical problem in Canada
by Brian Beck and Thomas G. Smith
Arctic Biological Station,
Fisheries and Marine Service,
Department of the Environment,
Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Que.
1976
ii
ABSTRACT
1976.
Beck, Brian and Thomas G. Smith.
medical problem in Canada.
"Seal Finger"--An unsolved
Fish. Mar. Servo Res. Dev. Tech.
Rep. 625: 7 p.
Seal finger, an infection caused by contact with the blood or blubber
of seals, remains unrecognized by Canadian medical authorities.
Because
of our close and frequent contact with many species of marine mammals,
we have learned to identify and effectively cure the infection using
tetracyclenes.
Four case histories of recent "infections are documented.
Suggestions are made for research which would identify the causative
organism and quantify the incidence of the infection in wild seal populations.
RESUME
Beck, Brian and Thomas G. Smith.
medical problem in Canada.
1976.
"Seal Finger"--An unsolved
Fish. Mar. Servo Res. Dev. Tech.
Rep. 625: 7 p.
La maladie des doigts des chasseurs de phoques, infection
caus~e
par le contact avec le sang ou la graisse de phoque, est encore mal
connue par les
Stroits et
fr~quents
nous ont appris
a l'aide
autorit~s ~dicales
canadiennes.
avec de nombreuses
a reconnaitre
de tetracyclines.
esp~ces
la maladie et
a la
Nos contacts
de
mammif~res
marins
soigner efficacement
Nous presentons des details concernant
quatre cas recents d'infection et proposons que des recherches soient
entreprises en vue d'identifier l'organisme responsable de la maladie
et de quantifier sa presence chez les populations de phoques sauvages.
1
INTRODUCTION
Seal finger, or "Spekk finger" as it is known in Norway, is an
infection caused by an unidentified organism contained in the blood or
fat of seals.
In Canada there still remains a significant number of
people who derive a large part of their cash income from seal hunting.
The Canadian Inuit, almost all coastal dwellers, cont-inue to depend on
the ringed seal, Phoca hispida, as the basis of their economy.
They
also hunt the bearded seal, Etighathus batbatus, and the walrus,
Odobenus rosmarus.
Many Newfoundlanders and other maritimers hunt harp
seals, Pagophilus 9!0enlandicus, hooded seals, Cystophoracristata,
harbour seals, Phoca vitulina and grey seals,Halichoeru5 grypus, for
their pelts.
Candolin (1953), in a very comprehensive study involving the many
regions of the Gulf of Bothnia and Finland, documents 244 cases of seal
finger.
Most of his comments about the disease still hold today.
important is that the causative organism is not yet identified.
Most
Neither
is the disease successfully treated by penicillin or sulphonamide therapy,
both prescribed for erysipeloid and erysipelas, acute skin infections
with similar symptoms and signs (Anon, 1950).
The majority of Canadian
physicians persist in treating seal finger in this way.
Canadian doctors can hardly be expected to know how to deal with
an infection that is endemic to the very small part of the population
involved with harvesting seals.
Because of our frequent contact with
seals in the course of our research, several of our laboratory personnel
have become infected with seal finger.
We have learned over the years
2
of an effective means of treating this disease which, if left to run
its course, can cause severe pain and lead to permanent disability.
The purpose of this note is to document a few cases of the
infection which have come to our attention in order to illustrate the
causes, the ineffectiveness of present medical treatment, and suggest
means of preventing and treating the disease.
Recommendations for
research needed to find the causative organism and to define its
incidence in seal populations are also outlined.
CASE HISTORIES
June 1968.
One of us (T.G.S.), alone in a remote camp on the east
coast of Baffin Island, contracted the infection after skinning several
ringed seals,
Phoc~
hiSpida.
The index and middle fingers of the left
hand were affected.
These became swollen and were painful one day after
skinning the seals.
Both fingers had small cuts on them which could have
been the entry site of the causative organism.
The largest cut was near
the proximal joint of the index finger.
The infection was at first treated with a topical aureomycin.
After
two days the condition had not improved, the pain was severe and the left
hand completely disabled.
Achromycin capsules (250 mg) were taken orally
every six hours for 24 hours.
After one day of treatment the pain
decreased noticeably and the swelling began to subside.
Three days after
administration of the tetracyclene the hand was normal.
Although there has been no reoccurrence of the disease, the index
finger appears now to be slightly arthritic, with occasional pain occuring
in the proximal joint.
This might not be related to the infection,
3
although Candolin (1953) makes it clear that arthritis is often a
complication after a prolonged infection.
June 1973.
An Eskimo seal hunter from Holman, Victoria Island,
N.W.T., contracted the disease, in all probability from ringed seals.
One other species, the bearded seal, Erignathus barbatus, also occurs
in very small numbers, in the area.
The index finger of the left hand
was severely swollen and very painful.
After receiving unsuccessful
treatment from the local nursing station
to the hospital in Yellowknife.
he was evacuated by aircraft
After a few weeks he returned from
the hospital with his hand in a sling, and still very painful.
He
was given achromycin tablets (250 mg every six hours, for two days)
when he asked for help from one of us (T.G.S.).
treatment the man left for a hunting trip.
After two days of
He was not seen for
three weeks, so that the subsidence of the infection was not observed.
Upon questioning, the hunter said he had experienced no further pain
after the second day of tetracyclene therapy and had regained full
use of his left .hand.
February 1973.
A fisheries officer of the Fisheries and Marine
Service, Department of the Environment, Halifax, N.S. participating in
the cull of grey seal pups, Halichoerus grypus, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
contracted the infection.
Being a Maritimer and familiar with the symptoms,
he diagnosed it as seal finger and contacted a physician.
prescribed sulphonamide and later penicillin therapy.
The doctor
A week later, with
no improvement, he contacted B.B. since he had heard that we knew how to
treat the infection.
Achromycin (250 mg capsules) was recommended four
4
times a day for two days.
In two days the pain and swelling were gone
and full recovery of function was made after one week.
April 1972 and 1975.
A biologist employed by the Northwest
Territories Fish and Game Department was infected during his work on
polar bears and seals.
The first infection of the small finger. left
hand. was probably contracted from the mouth of a drugged polar bear.
Ursus maritimus. captured on 10 April 1972.
At the time it was noted
that. although the bear was a very large specimen. it was underweight
and in poor physical condition.
infection with no success.
Penicillin was used to treat the
Thirteen days after the infection began. a
tetracyclene was taken which got rid of the swelling and pain within
four days.
A second infection of the left index finger was contracted from
a sick looking ringed seal in late April 1975.
The biologist was cut
on the finger while handling the hind flipper of the seal.
was noticed five days after handling the seal.
One day later penicillin
was administered for approximately one week with no success.
was then given for one week more with no improvement.
information to B.B. tetracyclene therapy was suggested.
was controlled within seven days.
Swelling
Erythromycin
Upon request for
The infection
There remains a stiffness in the
proximal joint of the affected finger but no other signs of infection.
DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Although the aetiology of seal finger is still unresolved our
experience with achromycin. a tetracyclene derivative, has shown that
it is an effective treatment for the disease.
With a sizeable Inuit
5
population depending on ringed seals throughout the year for their
sustenance and the seasonal harvest of various species of seals along
the east and west coasts of Canada, it is important that the Canadian
medical fraternity be made aware of the disease and its effective
treatment.
The Canadian and Norwegian participation each spring in the commercial
harp and hooded seal hunt places seal finger in the category of occupational
England (1924) and Mowat and Blackwood (1973) point out that seal
hazard.
finger is a common occurrence among the personnel participating in the
The permanent disabilities that still needlessly occur in connection
hunt.
with this industry can be prevented if proper treatment is administered
promptly.
Seals and possibly polar bears are the only known carriers of seal
finger.
The similarity in the early stages to an erysipeloid infection
has caused many people, working on whales, to assume they have contracted
seal finger.
Erysipelothrix inSidiosa, the causative agent of erysipeloid
infection, has been isolated from the dolphin, TurSiops truncatus (Geraci
et al., 1966) and is well known from other toothed whales.
In the few
cases known in which whaling station personnel were infected by true seal
finger, the same people were also working on seal pelts.
We have been
unable to find any authentic cases of seal finger being caused by whales,
although infection from Erysipelothrix sp. is fairly common from this
source.
It is important to treat seal finger as soon as it is diagnosed.
Since our work is usually in areas remote from any medical aid, the marine
6
mammal biologists of our laboratory always carry an adequate supply of
drugs.
We also make a regular practice of wearing gloves whenever possible
and washing after contact with seal blood or blubber.
In both Norway and North America a certain amount of work has been
carried out in the search for the causative agent.
been isolated that are suspect (e.g.
Thj~tta
A few organisms have
and Kvittingen, 1949; Waage,
1950; Rodahl, 1952) but none have been conclusively proven to cause seal
fi nger.
Two approaches may be taken in the search for the causattve agent.
Cultures may be taken from infected people or from a large number of seals.
In both cases the maximum number of samples can be obtained where a large
commercial seal hunt is taking place.
One of the difficulties in this
research is that the culture media required must be fresh and the inocula
received shortly after they are taken from the infected fingers or the
seal.
In Canada the harp seal hunt carried out by Norwegian and Canadian
sealing vessels might provide the ideal situation needed for a thorough
investigation of this disease.
The hunt which involves twelve vessels and
300 men takes place between 15 March and .15 April.
harp seals, pups and adults are taken.
A total of 170 thousand
In addition the Norwegians and
Canadians also harvest 15 thousand hooded seals in the ice northeast of
Newfoundland.
If a small laboratory could be installed on one of the most strategically
placed vessels, the logistics of acquiring a large number of specimens from
seals and infected seal hunters would be relatively simple and perhaps a
7
definitive study of the disease could be accomplished in a short time
period.
REFERENCES
Anon.
1950.
The Merck manual of diagnosis and therapy.
Inc. Rahway, N.J.
Candolin, Y.
1953.
Merck and Co.
1592 p.
Seal finger (Spekkfinger) and its occurrence in the
gulfs of the Baltic Sea.
Acta Chirurgica Scandinavica, Suppl. 177:
62 p.
England, G. A.
1924.
Vikings of the ice.
Doubleday, Page and Co., New
York. 323 p.
Geraci, J. R., R. M. Sauer and W. Medway.
1966.
Erysipelas in dolphins.
Amer. J. Vet. Res. 27: 597-606.
Mowat, F. and D. Blackwood.
and Stewart Ltd.
Rodahl, Kare.
Thj~tta,
1952.
1973.
"Spekk-finger" or sealer's finger.
1949.
(Blubber finger), Spekkfinger.
1950.
McClelland
159 p.
Th. and J. Kvittingen.
Waage, Per.
Wake of the great sealers.
Arctic 5: 235-240.
The etiology of sealer's finger
Act. Microbiol. Scand. 26: 407.
Om Spekkfingerbehandling med Aureomycin.
f. d. norske Laegeforen No. 21.
Tidsskrift.