A WOMAN was left battling a serious drug-resistant skin infection that oozed pus for weeks after bathing in shallow seawater at a holiday hotspot.
Medics who treated the 74-year-old traced it to a rare marine bacteria that can resist and linger deep in the flesh.
The woman, from Italy, had scraped her shin two weeks earlier when she fell onto some rocks.
After swimming with the open wound in the shallow waters of , it quickly began to swell and discharge pus.
When she got home she headed to San Paolo Hospital in Milan where doctors found a soft tissue infection called Shewanella putrefaciens under the skin of her leg.
It is a seawater-dwelling bug that’s rarely seen in humans.
This bacterium is known for its ability to survive both in saltwater and in human tissue, making it particularly dangerous for those with open wounds or weakened immune systems.
Doctors used an ultrasound to get a better look at the infection, which was about the size of a large smartphone and stretched nearly 10cm long.
It showed that the infection wasn’t just confined to the surface of the skin but had spread into the deeper tissues underneath, which often makes it harder to treat.
The unidentified woman was given , a first-line antibiotic, and underwent wound cleaning, but her symptoms failed to improve.
Despite no fever or signs of spreading infection, the lesion refused to heal for weeks.
A second-line antibiotic, was prescribed, but the woman stopped after five days due to side effects.
Writing about the case in the Journal of Medical Case Reports, the authors said: “Wastewater discharged from treatment plants and facilities into the sea, which contains antibiotics and heavy metals, may play a role in the development of antibiotic resistance.”
Fortunately, by then the infection had begun to resolve itself, and the wound eventually closed.
But she was left with lingering ankle swelling, likely caused by lymphatic damage, doctors said.
