Friend or Foe?

Spent a great weekend skiing with friends in Tahoe. The skiing was great but unfortunately we came home with this.

Hot Tub Folliculitis, or "the plague" as my friends now call it, is a common and benign skin infection caused by the otherwise nefarious bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In postoperative patients, that bacteria is responsible for mousey-smelling wounds full of greenish discharge, death, and long ICU stays. In party-going skiiers staying in rented houses with inadequately treated hot tubs, it causes a red itchy rash in the bathing-suit covered areas followed by pustules and general embarrassment. Thanks to cipro, hydrocortisone cream, and chlorine, no long term harm is done.

All I can say about the hot tub is that it seemed like a good idea at the time...