Fitness Files: Swollen finger traced to yucky origin

Sally showed up at our weekly hike holding her index finger in the air. Look at this, she said.

Laurie, our resident nurse, took point. “It’s red, hard, swollen by the nail, warm to the touch. See a doctor,” she directed.

The rest of us stood back, surveying Sally’s scary-looking finger.

“Darn,” Sally said, “I thought doctor too.”

“It’s the cactus,” Kathy said.

We all agreed.

The week before, Sally and I, captivated by spider webs three feet in diameter and festooned with sparkling water droplets, stopped to take prize-winning photographs of the creations.

I stood behind and snapped a photo of Sally, squatting to adjust her camera/phone for the perfect view of arachnid art.

Looking at Sally’s photo today, I see her snuggled up to a big trail-side cactus. In our enthusiasm, neither of us noticed it.

However, as she stood up, she said, “I’ll need your help.” Her arm held a tattoo of prickly pear spines. I picked them out, except one that broke in her arm.

“Need a tweezer for this one,” I said, regretfully. Then, I discovered my glove was cactus-spine perforated too.

So cactus as the cause of the finger infection was a good guess, right?

Wrong. Spiders and cactus are pristine compared with the truth.

Watch out, Dan — that’s a public warning to Sally’s husband.

That afternoon, Sally visited her doctor who asked, “You bite your cuticles?”

“Yes,” she admitted.

“The mouth is full of bacteria you inject into the site of a wound,” he said.

“Happens all the time with nail biters and it’s serious. Good you came in right away. Worst case ... the loss of a finger.”

He put her on broad-spectrum antibiotics.

WebMD and MedlinePlus differentiate among bacterial, viral and fungal infections of the finger. Each is treated differently so an accurate diagnosis is important. As in Sally’s case, the infection is usually staph or strep.

Both sites suggest soaking minor infections in hot water three times a day. However, if the swelling remains after two days, the advice is to seek medical care at once.

The Harvard Gazette quotes Donna Mager, who has found that the mouth is a great place for “micro pests,” dark crevices, slimy surfaces, a 95-degree temperature and a “lavish diet of sugar and carbs. Mager calls it “a mini jungle.” Her fellow researcher, Sigmond Socransky says, “In one mouth, the number of bacteria can easily exceed the number of people who live on Earth (more than 6 billion.)”

Before the 6 billion figure scares the squeamish Dan away from Sally forever, I hasten to add that not all mouth bacteria are infectious. In fact, some produce toxins that kill the pathogens. Socransky says, “Good bugs kill bad bugs.”

In any case, stop finger infections before bad bugs enter by keeping cuticles lubricated. Don’t bite hangnails or use cuticle remover, and take your own tools to a manicure.

Newport Beach resident CARRIE LUGER SLAYBACK is a retired teacher who ran the Los Angeles Marathon at age 70, winning first place in her age group. Her blog is [email protected].