Community Chat

[ford1224_2]

A friend of a friend of mine who lives in San Diego goes to a high class gym two to three times a week. She recently came down with a very serious viral infection in her thumb. It has swollen up to three times it's normal size and is very painful. I understand that she now has a red line going up her arm.

They have tried every conceivable antibiotic on her and nothing is working. She goes to the ER every day for IV infusions. They are concerned that they may have to amputate the thumb.

It is believed that she got this infection from the gym. She had pulled her thumbnail from the skin beneath it slightly when exercising on one of the pieces of equipment. It did not bleed, so she paid no attention to it. That night it started to hurt and swell and she went to the ER the next day. The doctors don't know what it is and so far it is not getting better.

I believe that any public place where people are closely in touch with each other physically (gyms, pools, etc.) are absolutely loaded with all kinds of germs, staph, bacteria, etc. In the gyms, when one person who is sweating profusely gets off a piece of equipment, and other person hops right on, one is asking for trouble.

My friend said there are boxes of wipe-down cloths for the equipment, but people rarely take the time to use them.

We live in a world where new viruses are mutating so quickly, scientists can't keep up with meds that can cure them. It behooves us to be careful when using public venues. I am old enough to remember polio and how my parents would not let us go to a public pool. Several of our schoolmates came down with polio and subsequently died. It was a terrifying disease back then.

Not trying to scare anyone . . . just saying be careful out there.