Fish tale ends badly as woman loses toes
A Perth woman had to have all the toes from her right foot amputated after contracting an infection during a ‘fish pedicure’ in Thailand.
Victoria Curthoys had originally been successfully treated for a bone infection she acquired 12 years ago after walking on broken glass.
Then during a Thai holiday in 2010, she decided to try a foot spa treatment with live fish.
It involved immersing her feet in a tank containing hundreds of Garra rufa, a small species of cyprinid fish, which are drawn to dead skin that they feed on. Afterwards, the feet are left feeling silky smooth.
However, the tank Ms Curthoys used was contaminated with a water-borne disease that infected her old surgery wounds.
After becoming ill on her return, it took doctors a year to diagnose her condition. She had contracted osteomyelitis which reinfected the bones of her foot. This time, her toes could not be saved.
Seen dozens of idiots try that so called "treatment" and always found it disgusting