ISOLATION OF MYCOPLASMA SPECIES FROM A PATIENT WITH SEAL FINGER

The etiologic agent of seal finger (speck finger) is unknown. Seal fin ger occurs after a seal bite, and the symptoms include acute pain, swe lling, discharge, and, in some cases, there is joint involvement. The discovery of Mycoplasma species in epidemics of seal disease prompted attempts to link seal finger to mycoplasma. Mycoplasma species were is olated in cultures of a specimen from the finger of an aquarium traine r who was bitten by a seal and of a specimen from the front teeth of t he biting seal. The two Mycoplasma isolates were identical biochemical ly; they were serum-dependent and hydrolyzed arginine. The isolates we re susceptible to tetracycline but resistant to erythromycin. By growt h inhibition and immunofluorescent antibody tests, both strains were i dentified as Mycoplasma phocacerebrale, a mycoplasma isolated in an ep idemic of seal disease occurring in the Baltic Sea. The patient's infe ction was treated successfully with tetracycline. To our knowledge, th is is the first case in which a mycoplasma has been associated with se al finger.