Seal finger

Seal finger, also known as sealer's finger and spekk-finger (from the Norwegian for "blubber"), is an infection that afflicts the fingers of sealers and other people who handle pinnipeds, as a result of bites or contact with exposed seal bones; it has also been contracted by exposure to untreated seal pelts. It can cause cellulitis, debilitating joint inflammation, and edema of the bone marrow; historically, seal finger was treated by amputation of the afflicted digits once they became unusable.

The precise nature of the organism responsible for seal finger is unknown, as it has resisted culturing; however, as seal finger can be treated with tetracycline or similar antibiotics, the causative organism is most likely bacterial, or possibly fungal; in 1998, Baker, Ruoff, and Madoff showed that the organism is most likely a species of Mycoplasma called Mycoplasma phocacerebrale. This mycoplasma was isolated in an epidemic of seal disease occurring in the Baltic Sea.