Catfish Barb Injuries Are No Laughing Matter

There’s a headline on legal site LouisianaRecord.com that reads “Deckhand sues for $1 million after suffering injuries from catfish barbs.” This may raise some eyebrows and cause some chuckles, but a pair of medical case studies says that catfish barb infections are not to be taken lightly.

One case resulted in the amputation of a finger.

“Catfish-Related Injury and Infection: Report of Two Cases and Review of the Literature,” by Donald K. Murphey, Edward J. Septimus, and David C. Waagner, published by Oxford University Press, examined two cases of catfish-spine-related injuries that caused serious infection.

The first case involved a 5-year-old boy whose right knee was punctured by a dorsal fin of a freshwater catfish. There was immediate intense pain that was not lessened by the application of alcohol and ice. Initially the spine broke off and stuck out from the wound but could no longer be seen as the swelling increased. He was taken to an emergency room, examined and released without additional treatment.

He was taken back to the emergency room 12 hours later due to fever. The spine was removed and knee was drained.

For two-and-a-half weeks he was given intravenous antibiotic therapy in the hospital before he recovered and returned home.

The second case involved a 51-year-old man whose finger was punctured by a catfish dorsal spine.  It was removed under local anesthesia and the wound was thoroughly cleaned and closed. Two days later, there was pain and swelling in the finger, and he was hospitalized.  He spent seven days in the hospital with intravenous antibiotic fluids and was discharged home.

The wound discharged and he was sent back to the hospital and again placed on antibiotic fluids for five days. The condition did not improve and the finger was amputated.