This story is part of CBC Health’s Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here.
When Colin Hunter got a sore throat and a fever last spring, he didn’t think much of it.
A week later, after packing and unpacking cardboard boxes, the middle finger of his right hand started to feel a bit irritated. By mid-afternoon, it was swollen. And by early evening, just hours later, it was clear something was very, very wrong.
“It went from nothing to, by about 5 p.m., a big plump
