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Bacterial infections have long posed a significant threat to human health, particularly before the advent of antibiotics. Back in 1928, my father’s younger brother succumbed to what was likely bacterial pneumonia at just three years old. Had he been born in an era with access to penicillin and other antibiotics, my Uncle Lee might have enjoyed a full and healthy life. Unfortunately, such tragedies were all too common before these medical breakthroughs.
Even today, bacterial infections remain a critical concern. In the northern regions, including Alaska, people can contract a rare condition known as “seal finger,” caused by a bacterium typically found in seals. This ailment, though uncommon, can be quite severe.
Dr. Westly was caught off guard by a recent case because this particular bacterial infection is usually associated with seals, not humans. This unusual circumstance highlights the unpredictability and ongoing challenges posed by bacterial infections.
An Alaska doctor has documented the first case of a rare and potentially risky infection from contact with a brown bear. The infection is known as “seal finger” and people typically get it handling seals, especially during seal hunting and processing. Veterinarians and wildlife biologists are also at risk.
But in 2024, Dr. Benjamin Westley diagnosed the case in a man who had cut his hand skinning a brown bear hunted on the Alaska Peninsula. He’d had three days of redness and painful swelling that didn’t resolve with standard antibiotics.
Westley said early tests didn’t find anything definitive, so eventually he sent a tissue sample to a lab for more comprehensive analysis.
“What was particularly shocking about this patient was he had a finger infection after skinning a brown bear that was not responding properly to antibiotics,” Westley said. “But I did not expect this bacteria.”
Dr. Westly didn’t expect it because it’s generally only found in seals.
Seal finger is not uncommon in Alaska and circumpolar regions, but Westley said this is only the second time this potentially more serious strain of the infection has been identified in the state.
He diagnosed the first case too, in a patient whose finger infection had spread to his hip.
“When the report came back, I was shocked, because the first case was my own patient 10 years prior,” he said. “And now it was the exact same bacteria for the second time in Alaska, but from a brown bear exposure, not from a seal exposure.”
That’s what makes this case a little unusual.