Speaker 1: Alright Glenn, thank you. Well now time to answer some common health questions. Joining me is News Channel 5’s medical expert, Dr. David Soria the chief of emergency medicine at Wellington at Regional Medical center.
Thanks for coming in.
Dr. Soria: You’re welcome.
Speaker 1: As always, let’s take a look at our first question: eleven Floridians have been inf, cted, hopefully I’ll pronounce this correctly, Vibrio Vulnificus?
Dr. Soria: Close.
Speaker 1: Close?
Dr. Soria: Vulnificus.
Speaker 1: Vulnificus. There we go. This year in the oceans, so how can people avoid it.
Dr. Soria: Well you know it’s actually pretty significant. I mean in 2013 we actually had 41 infections and 11 of them died, so when an infection occurs the mortality can be upwards of 50%, so it can be significant. Now it thrives in warm salt water and if it’s ingested you can get some nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
The problem comes is if you have open wounds. When it gets into an open wound it can cause an infection, skin break down, and ulceration. Who’s at risk? Typically if your healthy and you have a strong immune system, you’re not at risk, it can still happen but much less likely.
If you have cancer, if you have diabetes, if your immuno compromised at all and your immune system can’t fight off that infection, you’re at risk. You need to be aware of that. What can we do to protect ourselves?
If you have open wounds do not go into the warm salt water. When you’re handling shellfish or oysters, make sure you wear protective gloves or gear, and by all means, especially this time of year with the waters as warm as they are, make sure you cook your shellfish. Even oysters, safest thing to do, cook those things up, you’ll avoid any risks.
Speaker 1: Make sure you cook them. Good tip there. Now let’s take a look at our next question. Are skin lesions an indicator of skin cancer?
Dr. Soria: Yeah, well look, skin cancer is much more prevalent than we know and skin lesions are the hallmark of the disease. Which is why we always recommend that you want to do a self exam at least every three months if not every month. What I always try to have you remember is the ABCDE’s of melanoma. A, asymmetry. If one side is different than the other, that’s a problem. B, borders. If you have irregular borders, that could be a problem. Color, it shouldn’t it have multiple colors in it or it shouldn’t change colors over time, that’s a problem. D, diameter. If it’s greater than a quarter inch or growing, that is a problem. E, evolving or elevation. If it’s changing in any way, shape, or form, or it’s starting to elevate that’s a problem as well. Make sure you see you see your doctor, your dermatologist, get it looked at, could be a problem and preventable.
Speaker 1: Can never be too safe.
Dr. Soria: That’s right.
Speaker 1: Alright doctor, thank you so much.
Dr. Soria: You’re welcome.
Speaker 1: if you have a question for Dr. Soria you can send it in by going to our website wptv.com, clicking on the health link, scroll down, and on the bottom right hand side you’ll see a form to write your question.
Doctor, thank you for your time as always.
Dr. Soria: You’re welcome.
