r/infectiousdisease

Hello, I’m 22F looking for advice about a situation involving a possible perforated eardrum and an upcoming flight.
I have a fish tank at home that was filled with UK tap water. However, it had been kept in very warm conditions with a heater and had not been changed for months, and the water was visibly murky.

On 14 August, I put my finger into the fish tank water. I then became distracted and accidentally put the same wet finger deep into my ear. I believe I may have a perforated eardrum, and I have previously used my finger to try to manually relieve the feeling of blockage in that ear. I have had hearing loss in one ear and a muffled feeling for months.

I am now extremely anxious about the possibility of Naegleria fowleri (the “brain-eating amoeba”) being involved. I am particularly worried about whether, if there were contaminated fluid in the middle ear (due to my perforated eardrum), cabin-pressure changes during a flight could somehow cause fluid to travel through the Eustachian tube into the back of my nose and then reach the olfactory region, which is the area involved in *N. fowleri* infection.

I have also read that fluid can drain into the nose, and I’m worried that if this happened I could accidentally sniff it upward into the part of the nose where infection occurs.

My timeline is:
14 August: I put a wet finger that had been in the fish tank into my ear.
18 August: I showered and a significant amount of UK tap water entered the ear. I’m worried that this could have mixed with any fluid already present in the ear or potentially caused more fluid to move through the Eustachian tube.
19 August: I am due to fly.

I have severe OCD and health anxiety, so I’m currently struggling to distinguish between a genuine medical concern and an anxiety-driven hypothetical scenario. I am seriously considering cancelling my holiday despite the flights, accommodation and other arrangements being non-refundable. I specifically booked this holiday to take a break from my health anxiety, and my friend is travelling with me, so cancelling would also significantly affect her.

What I am most concerned about is this chain of events:
Fish-tank water potentially containing N. fowleri → wet finger enters my ear → perforated eardrum allows the organism or contaminated water into the middle ear where i might have already had liquid trapped → fluid remains there → additional shower water enters the ear → cabin-pressure changes during the flight cause the fluid to drain through the Eustachian tube into the back of the nose → pressure changes or sniffing somehow move the fluid upward to the olfactory region →N. fowleri infection

I understand this may be an unusual post, however this is genuinely ruining my life and i don’t want it to effect my friend by cancelling our holiday and it’ll create money loss too. I cant get medical advice as my flight is within a few hours. I’ll take any advice i can get tbh, because i can’t make my own rational decisions.

edit: i do apologise if you’ve seen my posts multiple times. this will be my last one, and i’m being completely 100% honest here. This is the exact scenario, fish tank water in the uk.

Federal public health officials say West Nile virus cases are at an all time high for this time of the year, the highest number of human cases reported in June since 2004.

West Nile virus is the most common and serious mosquito-borne disease in California that can be fatal to humans and some wildlife, according to the California Department of Public Health. 

In Los Angeles County, cases began to pop up in May, firstly in Pico Rivera and Long Beach, according to the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District. Now it’s up to 27 within its coverage area.

At the same time, more mosquitoes carrying the virus are being found.

Read more about why cases are growing and how to stay safe at the link.

Hi everyone,

I recently had a fairly comprehensive STI/STD panel done. I’m a man, and everything came back negative except Gardnerella vaginalis DNA, which was positive.

As part of the testing, I gave rectal, oral, and penile/urethral swabs, as well as urine and blood samples. Because of that, I actually don’t know which sample/site the Gardnerella result came from. The report just shows Gardnerella vaginalis DNA: positive without making the source clear.

I’ve tried looking this up online, but the information about Gardnerella in men seems all over the place. Most of what I can find is about bacterial vaginosis in women, and I’m having trouble figuring out what a positive result actually means for a man, especially when I don’t know which specimen tested positive.

I currently have no symptoms — no discharge, burning, pain while urinating, irritation, rectal symptoms, throat symptoms, etc.

For anyone knowledgeable about this or who has had a similar result:

• Does Gardnerella in men sometimes clear on its own without treatment?
• Is an asymptomatic positive result generally treated, or can it just represent colonization?
• Should I make an appointment with a urologist or infectious disease doctor anyway?

I’m not looking for a diagnosis from Reddit. I’m mainly trying to understand how seriously an isolated positive Gardnerella vaginalis DNA result in an asymptomatic male is usually taken, because the information online is surprisingly unclear.

Thanks!

34. Male. 160. Non Smoker. No medicines. My friend has been in the hospital for 1 month. They say he doesn't have long. But keeps going up and down. I want to go see him but I have a baby at home and am not sure if it is contagious 1 month in?

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I (M24) recently had a syphilis test (vdrl) , and the result came back weakly reactive (13th Aug). I’ve done another test to confirm the result, and I’m expecting that report on Tuesday (18th Aug).

Because I’ve been intimate with my partner (M21), just once (on 1st Aug) during this time (oral only), I’m worried he may have been exposed if I do have syphilis.

What would you recommend my partner do in the meantime? Should they get tested now, see a doctor/sexual health clinic, or wait until my confirmatory result comes back?

I have spoken to a healthcare professional as well, but I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has experienced something similar. Please keep the comments judgment-free :)

Also, I have the textbook symptoms of secondary syphilis (swollen lymph nodes and red bumps on my palms and soles) which made me get my blood tested.

We recently moved into this house, and there is a fish tank that had clearly been neglected for a long time. When we moved in, it contained extremely murky, greyish water that appeared not to have been cleaned. The feeding area at the top was also extremely dirty, with visible mold, green growth, and what looked like biofilm or algae. Apparently, the previous tenant would feed the fish through this opening and leave food residue behind without cleaning it. When we arrived, unfortunately all the fish were already dead. There was a large amount of old food and waste, and the water was so dark and murky that it was difficult to see through.

I don’t know whether this was due to the previous tenants or the condition in which the landlord left the tank, but it was incredibly upsetting to see. I also wonder whether the fish may have died because of overfeeding and the resulting poor water quality. When i asked, i was told the owner had fed them alot before moving out.
Yesterday, my dad had removed the dead fish but he was thinking about calling a professional to clean the tank so the dirty water was all still there.

Today, I wanted to check the temperature of the water, just cause of the heatwave i was curious, so I dipped my finger and dipped a paper towel into the water. I was distracted by a TV show and didn’t realise a minute later that I then used the same wet edge of the paper towel inside my nose because I felt an itch. I pushed it quite far up my nostril to clean my nose. I also used the
same finger. Disgusting, i know.

But now, this has made me extremely anxious about \*Naegleria fowleri\* the so-called “brain-eating amoeba.” I am particularly worried because the tank had previously been extremely dirty and murky, with stagnant water, algae/green growth, biofilm, and a lot of leftover food and waste. I know that the presence of these things does not necessarily mean *Naegleria fowleri* was present, but I am worried that the conditions could potentially have supported it.

The tank is indoors in London, downstairs, covered, and receives no direct sunlight. As far as I know, it was filled using London tap water. But with the recent heatwave, im worried abt the very high temperatures also favouring growth and the fact that there did seem to be a heater so i wonder how often it was used? The water in the tank is also not filtered or circulated.

What is worrying me now is that I understand *Naegleria fowleri* would have to be **introduced** into the tank in the first place.

I know UK tap water getting into ur nose isn’t a major concern as it usually has a negligible amount of this amoeba but, if there had somehow been even a very small amount present in the original tap water, could the neglected conditions of the tank — particularly the stagnant water, old food, algae, biofilm, and waste — have allowed it to **multiply substantially?** In other words, could the concentration in the tank have become significantly higher than what would normally be expected from accidentally getting ordinary London tap water up the nose, potentially making this exposure much more risky?

I am so incredibly stressed, and obviously this isn’t major enough to go to A&E so i’m just at home googling. I wasn’t concerned at first but after asking chatgpt it made me 100 times more concerned!

For a healthy household with individuals showing no symptoms of intestinal worms; if everyone wants to resume a periodic preventive deworming routine after about 2 years of not having taken any deworming tablet, is taking albendazole 400 mg as a single dose sufficient? Or is a second 400 mg tablet after 2 weeks recommended even when there are no symptoms?

I know that a repeat dose after 2 weeks is commonly mentioned for diagnosed pinworm infections, but I'm specifically asking about routine preventive deworming in an asymptomatic household, not treatment of a suspected infection.

Also between albendazole 400 mg and mebendazole 500 mg, which is more preferred/better for routine preventive deworming in adults, and why?

Would appreciate answers esp from people familiar with current guidelines <3

I don’t know if this is strange or common and what this subreddit is for but im gonna give it a try anyway.
2 weeks ago i was working in an attic, a job that I regret taking. The entire attic was covered in poop, turds about the size of a cats turd.

I knew working around poop isnt great so I did what I could to mitigate danger. I have a respirator i try to wear when doing attic work, it’s a cheap one from Amazon so I don’t know how well it protects anyway but of course on this particular job I realized I was missing the filter one side. So I used a paper mask and broken respirator on top of it when I was up there, although it definitely shifted around a lot so im sure i was occasionally breathing in whatever the attic had to offer, and there were a couple of times that I just needed to pop my head up quickly and look around, which I now regret not masking up for as well.

Like I said it’s been about two weeks since that job, and ive been having some neck and throat pain, it’s probably unrelated but it made me start wondering about the danger i was in prior so of course i start looking things up. Now im terrified and can’t seem to get the answers I need.

I never saw any of the animals that had been living up there but based on the size of the poop I would have to guess a raccoon or family of raccoons had been living up there for some time because poop was everywhere and now im freaking out because everything im seeing online from like the CDC and other sources says you should treat within 3 days of suspected exposure.

I usually see a PA, and I contacted her, this type of thing is not her wheelhouse, she was willing to prescribe me a 14 day script for albendazole, so it’s there if I want to take it. But as far as weighing the risks and protocol for contact with raccoon feces and possibly exposure im on my own.

Ive tried reaching out to ID doctors in my area with no luck, and everyone ive talked to just seems to be interested in symptoms when im saying forget symptoms, everything I’ve seen says dont wait for symptoms, what is the protocol for possible exposure? Should I start now without being certain i was exposed, 2 weeks after the fact when the cdc recommends 3 days, or should I just wait and hope no symptoms appear and then at that point it might be too late?