Deadly Box Jellyfish Found In Thai Waters

[sassienie]

Somchai Bussarawit, the chief of the museum and aquarium at the Phuket Marine Biological Centre said; if this jellyfish is proven to be a foreign species, than it will be caught, held in a holding aquarium for 7 days, deported and blacklisted from entering Thailand for the next 10 years.

[TVmonitor]

Conference in Phuket - web site - Box Jelly conference

"new to area" unlikely just not recognised or reported - reports go back to the 60s

"2 deaths" - almost certainly many more.

“Cannot attack" - well the box jelly is said to be the most "intelligent" of jelly fish and even has rudimentary "eyes" and it is believed can swim up to 3 knots towards its prey....

I'm lead to understand that in Australia, their life cycle involves a "migration" form estuaries to the sea.....

The sting is one of the most dangerous toxins to man.

Edited April 11, 2009 by TVmonitor

[FarangCravings]

To the poster who suggested rubbing the sting with an onion - do not ever rub the area with anything. This will spread the tentacles around with the effect of increasing the venomated area.

As stated, pour on vinegar, carefully remove the stingers and use heat (as hot as you can stand) to alleviate the pain. Prepare to rescusitate, get to hospital.

As a dive Instructor for more than 20 years and a first aid instructor it is not normal to use hot water to treat a Jelly fish stings however lately a few experiments report good results for using hot water as treatment.

However it kinda hard to find hot water on a beach or on a boat so you use the normal initial first aid which is Vinigar windex or urine if you have nothing else these should render the stings harmless, then remove any tentacles and treat for shock seek medical attention of course if you have hot water be sire to try it.

hot water is however the only treatment for a Stingray sting or cone shell sting imerse the area in as hot a water as you can stand without burning the skin this will alleviate the pain for this type of wound.

Edited April 11, 2009 by FarangCravings

[FarangCravings]

Sorry to say, but Box Jellies have been in Thailand for many years, but IMHO the authorities have chosen to keep quiet about them rather than alarm (scare off) the tourists.

I was hit off the coast of Rayong about a year ago and have the lovely scar to show for it and my neghbor's daughter got stung quite badly, survived, and has some very bad scars to show for it.

We need to spread the word for hotels and resorts to keep a jug of vinegar and there also needs to be more education for health providers on Jellyfish First Aid as most Thai doctors have never had to treat such injuries.

The Box Jellyfish will only become more common as their natural predators are nearly extinct and as the Gulf of Thailand warms. Wearing a sting suit when jellies have been spotted is not a bad idea. (Perhaps this is why most Thais swim fully clothed?)

To my surprise Thailand is very successful to keep any "bad" news out of European newspapers. I know about the vinegar but does the heat treatment help on these?

Hot water is the normal treatment for a stingray stings or cone shell stings however it only till recent that it is being reccomended as a treament for jellyfish stings. I have treated MANY jellyfish stings mainly Portugese man O War jellyfish and Always Vinigar took care of it real quick also had success with urine.

Edited April 11, 2009 by FarangCravings

[teatree]

Perhaps another sign of the globe warming up???

There is evidence to the contrary. NOAA has placed 3000 buoys (Argos) throughout the worlds oceans, and their findings refute any warming in the worlds oceans.

www.ibdeditorials/IBDArticles.aspx?id=291423153272209

www.powerlineblog.comarchives/2008/05/020479.php

If you can't understand its all a scam, mores the pity on you.

NO SCAM, Sam, but you're just don't want to face it. Why the hel_l is the polar ice melting at a rate that will make it iceless in the summers?

Try watching 'The Great Global Warming Swindle'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkZ9XX8xhPg

It's the antidote to all the lies and propaganda we are constantly fed.

The Arctic has shrunk a little (has actually started to increase due to the cooling period we are going through and is at a 5 year high), but Antarctic is at record levels and has by grown more than Arctic has reduced.

You just can't rely CNN to make your mind up for you if you want to get to the truth.

[stingertale]

Global warming and jellyfish blooms (and throw in a bit of over fishing, serious pollution and nutrification of the seas) is an interesting discussion but back to the specific issue of box jellyfish in Thailand.

I'm curious to know FarangCravings about these few experiments that lately have been reporting good results. Can you please post a link to these reports? Or if not possible can you provide detail as to what it is exactly the hot water is treating (neutralizing sting cells?), how hot is the water expected to be in degrees celsius, what species of jellyfish are responding to this treatment and does it include cubozoan or box jellyfish?

In your 20 years have you had to treat a box jellyfish sting and if so when, where, what treatment did you render and any follow ups on the victims?

Windex is of course ammonia based with lashings of solvents and alcohol and what-not. Ammonia if applied to a box jellyfish sting within minutes of contact can be fatal to the victim. Urine if pH balance is alkaline and not acidic can also be dangerous as both these liquids can trigger the stinging cells to fire as opposed to neutralizing them.

Perhaps we should establish some facts before trying hot water and in the meantime stick with the tried and true and scientifically proven to effectively neutralize 100% of nematocysts (stinging cells) on a box jellyfish tentacle (of which there are around 1000000 every 10mm) and potentially save a life: vinegar - household, balsamic whatever you have handy.

If a sting occurs:

1. Ensure the water is safe for the rescuer

2. Check vital signs and perform CPR if needed

3. Splash stings with vinegar asap for 30-60 seconds

4. Seek medical help

Lets not forget that unlike any other species of jellyfish such as portuguese man o war and fire jellyfish, the big multi-tentacle box jellyfish is the most venomous animal on the planet that has killed victims in Thailand in less than 3 minutes. If you're going to treat a sting from the these things get it right and get it right real quick.

[stingertale]

Here's an article about the use of hot water on jellyfish stings that might clarify its place in the treatment process.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Bluebo...0563843818.html

It says at the end that with box jellyfish victims AFTER vinegar is applied that hot water could offer pain relief in non life threatening cases.

[WorldwideALOHA]

A little jellyfish humor to lighten things up a bit.

I was out on a tour boat in Phi Phi a month or so ago when at one of the stops for swimming / snorkeling a very mild current came up and brought in thousands of little 'bottle cap' jellys that produced a very mild sting, but left no permanent marks. Anyways, there was a group of about 15 swimmers / snorkelers stuck away from the boat and after trying to wait it out for about 10 minutes people were starting to get excited. Of course no long tail boats would help pluck out the swimmers or help in any way, so it became clear that they would have to swim in and deal with the mild stings or spend the night in the water...

That's when a VERY excited man on the boat, who was running around in a half panic started screaming - "Get the bread!!!"

I said "What??"

He said - "Quick! Get the bread!!!"

I had to ask - "What for?"

He said - "I'll throw the bread to the jellyfish, when the jellyfish all go for it, tell everyone to start swimming!"

Right.

Bread. Feed the jellyfish bread.

I've heard it all now. In the end, everyone made it aboard, a few with little stings that went away in a few hours and all had a great story of the day thousands of jellyfish appeared, thick as soup, and they had to swim through them while some nut tried to feed them bread as a distraction.

Maybe it would work better on the Box Jellyfish...

Aloha

Edited April 12, 2009 by WorldwideALOHA

[stingertale]

This should go a fair way in answering questions of what treatment and why for what jellyfish and where according to an Australian marine stinger scientist:

"Here's what's right according to scientific research:

1. Vinegar stops the undischarged stinging cells of box jellies and Irukandjis from being able to discharge. This is an instant and permanent effect. It works equally well with all colours and flavours of household vinegar, but less well with other types or concentrations of acids.

2. Vinegar causes discharge of stinging cells of some other types of jellyfish species -- all but one of these are known to be non-harmful compared to the box jellies and Irukandjis. Thus, causing discharge of these is of little medical consequence, whereas inhibiting discharge of box jellies and Irukandjis may save a life. The one that IS discharged by vinegar and is harmful is incredibly rare, having been last recorded in (I think, from memory) 1994.

3. Vinegar does not stop pain from stings. It stops further injury by stopping additional venom from entering the body. This may be critical in borderline envenomation cases.

4. Freshwater causes all marine stinging cells to discharge through a process called osmotic action. This simply involves molecular uptake of H2O across the salinity gradient and across the cell wall, until the nematocyst (= stinging cell) ruptures, with the typical weakest point being the capsule operculum (lid). If the stinging cells happen to be facing toward your skin when this happens (likely if they have been left there by a jellyfish), then penetration through the skin (and injection of venom) is likely.

5. Heat causes capillary dilation, which is thought to potentially increase both the speed and amount of venom uptake. This could be critical in borderline envenomation cases.

6. Heat reduces pain through various neurological processes in the body, not through venom denaturation, as is commonly thought. Jellyfish venoms denature rapidly at 60 degrees C. At lower temperatures, venom denaturation would take longer than the venom would remain at the sting site, particularly if capillary dilation were acting to transfer the venom into the blood stream.

The current recommendation from the Australian Resuscitation Council is (paraphrased):

1. For any known or suspected box jellyfish or Irukandji sting, use vinegar.

2. For any TROPICAL sting of unknown origin, use vinegar.

3. For CONFIRMED bluebottle stings OUTSIDE THE TROPICS, rinse well with seawater, then immerse in 45 degree C water for 20 minutes; if 45 degree C water for 20 minutes is unavailable or the temperature cannot be safely regulated, rinse well with seawater then use ice for the pain.

4. For unknown stings OUTSIDE THE TROPICS, rinse well with seawater then use ice for the pain.

In other words, in the tropics, use vinegar. For boxies and Irukandjis, use vinegar. In Thailand, use vinegar. Outside the tropics only use hot water if you know for sure it is a blue bottle (not because there's anything peculiar about blue bottles and hot water, just because the Australian bluebottle, Physalia utriculus, is highly unlikely to kill, and causes tens of thousands of stings per year along temperate Australian beaches)."

Dr. Lisa-ann Gershwin

Director, Australian Marine Stinger Advisory Services