WASHINGTON — In 2008, a new pedicure trend swept the nation: tiny fish eating the dead skin off customers’ feet. Now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that the so-called “doctor fish” may carry bacteria that could cause serious infections.
Shortly after the fish pedicures began, public-health agencies spoke out against the practice, prompting California, Florida and several other states to ban it. On Wednesday, the CDC published a report by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science in the United Kingdom, which studied the kinds of bacteria carried by Garra rufa, or “doctor fish,” an inch-long silver carp native to Southeast Asia.
“To date, there has been only limited information on the types of bacteria associated with these fish,” lead researcher David Verner-Jeffreys said. “Our study identified some of the species of bacteria associated with this fish species, including some that can cause infections in both fish and humans.” Medill News Service
