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May 17th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda THURSDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) — “Fish pedicures” in health
spas can expose recipients to a host of pathogens and bacterial
infections, a team of researchers warns.
The practice of exposing your feet to live freshwater fish that eat
away dead or damaged skin for mainly cosmetic reasons has been banned in
many (but not all) American states, but it is apparently a hot trend in
Britain.
So much so that the British researchers sent their warning in a letter
published in the June issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, a
publication from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Officially known as “ichthyotherapy,” the procedure typically involves
the importation of what are called “doctor fish,” a Eurasian river basin
species known as “Garra rufa.” The fish are placed in a spa tub, the foot
(or even whole body) joins it, and the nautical feeding on dead or
unwanted skin begins.
The problem: such fish may play host to a wide array of organisms and
disease, some of which can provoke invasive soft-tissue infection in
exposed humans and many of which are antibiotic-resistant, according to
the scientists from the Center for Environment, Fisheries
Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) in Weymouth.
In the letter, CEFAS team leader David W. Verner-Jeffreys referenced
a 2011 survey that suggested the U.K. is now home to 279-plus “fish spas,”
with an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 fish coming into the country every week
from a host of Asian countries.
Verner-Jeffreys noted that in April 2011, 6,000 fish imported from
Indonesia for U.K. fish spas were affected by a disease outbreak that
caused hemorrhaging of their gills, mouth and abdomen, resulting in the
death of nearly all the specimens.
In turn, U.K. scientists uncovered signs of bacterial infection (caused
by a pathogen called “S agalactiae”) in the fishes’ livers, kidneys and
spleen.
Following this discovery, Verner-Jeffreys said, his team conducted five
raids on imported fish batches coming through Heathrow Airport, which
uncovered further signs of infection with a number of additional
pathogens. Many of those were found to be resistant to such standard
antimicrobial drugs as tetracycline, fluoroquinolone and
aminoglycoside.
“To date, there are only a limited number of reports of patients who
might have been infected by this exposure route,” Verner-Jeffreys said in
his letter. “However, our study raises some concerns over the extent that
these fish, or their transport water, might harbor potential zoonotic
disease pathogens of clinical relevance.”
At particularly high risk, the scientists said, were people already
struggling with diabetes, liver disease and/or immune disorders.
Verner-Jeffreys suggested that spas offering fish pedicures use
disease-free fish raised in controlled environments.
George A. O’Toole, a professor in the department of microbiology and
immunology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H.,
added his own concern.
” I would stay away from this experience,” he said. “It’s probably not
feasible to sterilize these fish. And as for the water itself, even if you
dump it between patients, these organisms will form rings of biofilm
communities attached to the surface of the tubs themselves. It’s like a
contact lens case that you never disinfect. Simply wiping them down is not
good enough. Unless you’re incredibly responsible about sterilizing those
tubs you’re not going to kill them, and they will reseed the next batch of
water. The whole thing is a bad idea.”
Dr. Philip Tierno, director of clinical microbiology and pathology at
New York University Medical Center in New York City, agreed.
“It’s a bad idea in several ways,” he said. “Because these pathogens
can give you a serious wound infection. Or blood-borne infection. Or
diarrhea. Or even pose a threat to a pregnant woman’s fetus or
newborn.”
“Really, you have the potential for multiple types of infection,”
Tierno added. “Because theoretically when you’re touching the area that
has been nibbled on by these fish, you can still have the organisms there.
And then you can inadvertently touch your mouth and introduce them into
your system.”
More information
For more on foot health, visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
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