Fish-odour syndrome: dealing with offensive body odour

This article is aimed at nursing professionals who may have been, or may be confronted with, patients who complain of fish-smelling body odour. The individual may be suffering from intermittent symptoms of the fish-odour syndrome. Recent contact with sufferers of such symptoms has highlighted the need to raise awareness among nurses about this syndrome. Sufferers expressed disappointment with regard to the advice they received from primary health-care professionals with respect to their problem. In content, the advice was variable but commonly centred around methods of increasing personal hygiene. Thus, the purpose of this article is to provide factual information about the fish-odour syndrome to increase awareness among nurses who could potentially aid the management of the syndrome and relieve some of the distress of its sufferers.