Phuket swimmers warned to beware Portuguese Men o' War
Tanyaluk Sakoot


Beached bluebottles can still sting and are best left alone.

PHUKET: -- Swimmers and divers should be warned to keep a sharp look-out for Portuguese Men o’ War, or bluebottles, around the coast of Phuket, after a tourist was stung by one of the bizarre creatures at Patok Beach on Racha Island last Thursday (June 19).

The bluebottles are easily recognised by the air bladder from which the creature hangs, drifting around the ocean pushed by wind and tides, its long blue tentacles trailing below.

Dr Jaratsri Angtanya, Director of the Phuket Aquarium, told The Phuket News, “My team and I took a tour of inspection around Phuket Island on Friday.

“We found about 10 bluebottles around Phuket, off Nai Yang, off Patong (in two places), off Racha Yai, off Naithon, Bangtao, Surin, Kamala, Kata, Karon and Nai Harn.

“This is not as many as we found in Phuket’s waters at this time last year.”

She explained that the bluebottles – often mistaken for jellyfish because of their long stinging tentacles, but in fact a bizarre collection of symbiotic organisms – are of a species called Physalia utriculus, as distinct from the Atlantic species, Physalia physalis, which is larger and can kill humans.

“They don’t kill people like the ones found off the US coast,” she said, but warned that a sting from one can be very painful, and can cause breathing difficulties in some people.

Bluebottles tend to come in clusters. “This [organism] appears in Phuket waters every year. They are often washed up on the beach by waves. If you see one on the beach, don’t go in the water.

“If you see one on the beach don’t touch it. Just leave it to die, which takes about two or three days. After that it is no longer venomous.”

Sting victims should flush the sting with sea water, she said, not fresh water or vinegar, as is the case with jellyfish.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-swimmers-warned-to-beware-portuguese-men-o%E2%80%99-war-47031.php


-- Phuket News 2014-06-25

Bluebottle type of jellyfish floating between the plastic blue water bottles.

I hope people will take this warning seriously. I had to take a swimmer to hospital who had been stung by one of these jelly fish.

I had multiple stings from one and the pain was something terrible. I had to seek medical treatment.

What about urine? I know it sounds dirty but helps with the stinging sensation so much when stung with other jellyfish.

Please NOTE:

This is article about Portuguese Man-o-War, and the article states they are different from jellyfish and the treatment of a sting is not the same. You should not apply vinegar to this type of sting.

And urine is always a bad idea because of the risk of infection.

What about urine? I know it sounds dirty but helps with the stinging sensation so much when stung with other jellyfish.

Well, if you had been barfining the working girls, urination might be stinging alot more than the jellyfish.

Phuket swimmers warned to beware Portuguese Men o' War

When I first read this, I thought Portuguese Men o' War was some type of pervert Portuguese men wearing only their panties with their snorkeling gear underwater staring at women. HAHAHAHA

I'm more worried about box jellyfish in which venomous species the size of our thumb can release potent neurotoxins enough to be to fatal.

Its hard to spot something that small. Divers in the know wear protective swimwear as the box jellyfish only release toxins upon contact with open skin and not clothes/swimwear.

http://thaiboxjellyfish.blogspot.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_jellyfish

Fortunately for us the venomous species of box jellyfish are almost entirely restricted to the tropical Indo-Pacific but I do recall a few cases in the South of Thailand. Many of these cases are probably reported as drownings so stats are sketchy.

Edited June 25, 201412 yr by smileydude

What about urine? I know it sounds dirty but helps with the stinging sensation so much when stung with other jellyfish.

Well, if you had been barfining the working girls, urination might be stinging alot more than the jellyfish.

Dr. Pisanu is no longer an option then.

If you see one on the beach, don’t go in the water !!!

If you see one on the beach don’t touch it. Just leave it to die, which takes about two or three days !!!

Aren't they talking about Russians, Nigerians ...???

I prefer having jellyfish on the beach instead of Russians, Nigerians......

Edited June 25, 201412 yr by FredNL

urine is normally sterile

it is the spit of your mouth that is full of bacteria

Please NOTE:

This is article about Portuguese Man-o-War, and the article states they are different from jellyfish and the treatment of a sting is not the same. You should not apply vinegar to this type of sting.

And urine is always a bad idea because of the risk of infection.

You don't know much about urines components. If it caused infections none of us would have survived infancy given that we pissed and shat our way through year one.

Urine is filtered blood. It is totally harmless. Check some of the Harvard research. It is very beneficial for certain like stings, bites , tropical ulcers etc. It is anti septic and anti bacterial. It poses no risk of infection in fact it offers the opposite. It is often the go to solution for jellyfish stings in Australia ....don't know if it works for these Phuket dudes but it's worth a try. It certainly won't do any damage.

Hot water appears to be the best choice based on some research articles. Treating a blue bottlefish sting.

Please NOTE:

This is article about Portuguese Man-o-War, and the article states they are different from jellyfish and the treatment of a sting is not the same. You should not apply vinegar to this type of sting.

And urine is always a bad idea because of the risk of infection.

You don't know much about urines components. If it caused infections none of us would have survived infancy given that we pissed and shat our way through year one.

Urine is filtered blood. It is totally harmless. Check some of the Harvard research. It is very beneficial for certain like stings, bites , tropical ulcers etc. It is anti septic and anti bacterial. It poses no risk of infection in fact it offers the opposite. It is often the go to solution for jellyfish stings in Australia ....don't know if it works for these Phuket dudes but it's worth a try. It certainly won't do any damage.

Read it and weep sonny:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/31427/does-peeing-jellyfish-sting-actually-help

"Whats more, while urine is sterile, it has to pass through the germ-laden urethra to get out, and can lead to a bacterial infection of the sting wound."

Or any of these medical reviews:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-urinating/

http://www.uamshealth.com/?id=11935&sid=1

http://firstaid.about.com/od/bitesstings/f/07_JellyfishPee.htm

Edited June 25, 201412 yr by ClutchClark

Hot water appears to be the best choice based on some research articles. Treating a blue bottlefish sting.

"As long as the tentacles are picked off first" is key to using hot water.

Seems there is a general consensus that If tentacles are still present then fresh water can trigger the nematocysts to sting.

Cheers

Hi Guys..

been stung by these many times..particularly painful on the fingers...lots of nerve endings

tried many things..its absolutely crucial to not brush or rub the tentacle (its very sticky), try to gently remove lift it off, then swim around in the salt water for as long as you can, if a bad sting that needs to be followed by a very hot bath..

most just disappear in 5 mins but have had some really bad ones that left me gasping for 30 mins..only thing that helped on those was a very hot bath and a coupla of pain killers

in recent years they seem to have got a lot more potent...

again whatever you do don't rub it

That urine technique just doesn't work..maybe the warmth feels good for a minute but it does nothing after..I get stung by these suckers every summer and really hate them so keep trying to find a better solution....how bad it is going to be and if you get scarred will depend on what you do when first stung..if you immediately stop and carefully pick then off without activating the cysts then usually just swimming in the salt water will cure within 10-15 mins.

if you rub and fire them off you may get scarred, the experience can be intensely painful and take up to 3-4 hours to go (thats even with a bath)..

if someone finds a better method happy to try, really hate these things...wait to you get stung on the finger tips! only thing worse was once got stung by a small lagoon ray on the finger..again tried everything until the bait shop lady brought a bowl of very hot water..pain went in 10 seconds..

i asked my doctor why, he said heat often breaks down the poisons

Please NOTE:

This is article about Portuguese Man-o-War, and the article states they are different from jellyfish and the treatment of a sting is not the same. You should not apply vinegar to this type of sting.

And urine is always a bad idea because of the risk of infection.

You don't know much about urines components. If it caused infections none of us would have survived infancy given that we pissed and shat our way through year one.

Urine is filtered blood. It is totally harmless. Check some of the Harvard research. It is very beneficial for certain like stings, bites , tropical ulcers etc. It is anti septic and anti bacterial. It poses no risk of infection in fact it offers the opposite. It is often the go to solution for jellyfish stings in Australia ....don't know if it works for these Phuket dudes but it's worth a try. It certainly won't do any damage.

Nice to know someone agrees with me, I was in Dubai and got stung many times, the life guard told me to pee on my legs, i did and it felt far better !

Please NOTE:

This is article about Portuguese Man-o-War, and the article states they are different from jellyfish and the treatment of a sting is not the same. You should not apply vinegar to this type of sting.

And urine is always a bad idea because of the risk of infection.

You don't know much about urines components. If it caused infections none of us would have survived infancy given that we pissed and shat our way through year one.

Urine is filtered blood. It is totally harmless. Check some of the Harvard research. It is very beneficial for certain like stings, bites , tropical ulcers etc. It is anti septic and anti bacterial. It poses no risk of infection in fact it offers the opposite. It is often the go to solution for jellyfish stings in Australia ....don't know if it works for these Phuket dudes but it's worth a try. It certainly won't do any damage.

Nice to know someone agrees with me, I was in Dubai and got stung many times, the life guard told me to pee on my legs, i did and it felt far better !

Why, was your bladder full ;-)

Look guys, I am only passing along information found on numerous medical websites as a courtesy to other members who might have kids that get stung. The old adage was to pee on these stings for decades and that has now been de-bunked.

Don't shoot the messenger, OK?

Cheers

Many times I have heard people stating that rubbing with aloe vera or a cream made of it is a good remedy against jellyfish stings. Vinegar also certainly helps.

One more thing to avoid while swimming in patong beach

Many times I have heard people stating that rubbing with aloe vera or a cream made of it is a good remedy against jellyfish stings. Vinegar also certainly helps.

The point of this article was to distinguish between jellyfish and Portuguese Man-of-War and to indicate the treatments are different because the type of stings are different.

Its really worth everyones time to learn about this difference.

One more thing to avoid while swimming in patong beach

You don't really swim at Patong Beach, eh?

That urine technique just doesn't work..maybe the warmth feels good for a minute but it does nothing after..I get stung by these suckers every summer and really hate them so keep trying to find a better solution....how bad it is going to be and if you get scarred will depend on what you do when first stung..if you immediately stop and carefully pick then off without activating the cysts then usually just swimming in the salt water will cure within 10-15 mins. if you rub and fire them off you may get scarred, the experience can be intensely painful and take up to 3-4 hours to go (thats even with a bath).. if someone finds a better method happy to try, really hate these things...wait to you get stung on the finger tips! only thing worse was once got stung by a small lagoon ray on the finger..again tried everything until the bait shop lady brought a bowl of very hot water..pain went in 10 seconds.. i asked my doctor why, he said heat often breaks down the poisons

That makes sense to me.

I suffer badly when a mozzie bites me. The itching is so bad that I often end up scratching a big wound.

BUT, a nice hot mug of coffee placed right on the bite for a few seconds stops the itching in seconds. It beats the hell out of all the jells, creams, pills etc from Big Pharma.

In the case of the mozzie, it releases a protein into you as it bites and that is what causes the itching.

The heat for a few seconds, breaks the protein down.

Sounds like a similar thing for the jelly fish sting?

Can anyone confirm or debunk this?

Please NOTE:

This is article about Portuguese Man-o-War, and the article states they are different from jellyfish and the treatment of a sting is not the same. You should not apply vinegar to this type of sting.

And urine is always a bad idea because of the risk of infection.

You are wrong Urine was used for wound desinfections, but I don't know in this case.

Phuket swimmers warned to beware Portuguese Men o' War

When I first read this, I thought Portuguese Men o' War was some type of pervert Portuguese men wearing only their panties with their snorkeling gear underwater staring at women. HAHAHAHA

In german we call these bastards "Portugiesische Galeere". makes for me more sence, caused of a lot of several symbiotic polyps in 1 organism.

Like on a galeere not only 1 man.

For example the upper part over the surface after this is also called "Blue Bottle" is the biggest Polyp of the whole organism.

Please NOTE:

This is article about Portuguese Man-o-War, and the article states they are different from jellyfish and the treatment of a sting is not the same. You should not apply vinegar to this type of sting.

And urine is always a bad idea because of the risk of infection.

You are wrong Urine was used for wound desinfections, but I don't know in this case.

German,

I am not wrong. I am the messenger. I was simply re-stating what numerous medical publications have to say on the matter. Perhaps your key word is the "past tense" of the verb "use" because it is true thst urine has been thought a good treatment for various stings previously...however, new medical opinion is that such practice is now discouraged.

You definitely speak EnglIsh better than my German but please practice up on subtlety when time allows ;-)

If you see one on the beach, don’t go in the water !!!

If you see one on the beach don’t touch it. Just leave it to die, which takes about two or three days !!!

Aren't they talking about Russians, Nigerians ...???

I prefer having jellyfish on the beach instead of Russians, Nigerians......

Hehe this is real rasism.

Unfortunately this problems will not be solved in about 3 days.

Please NOTE:

This is article about Portuguese Man-o-War, and the article states they are different from jellyfish and the treatment of a sting is not the same. You should not apply vinegar to this type of sting.

And urine is always a bad idea because of the risk of infection.

You are wrong Urine was used for wound desinfections, but I don't know in this case.

German,

I am not wrong. I am the messenger. I was simply re-stating what numerous medical publications have to say on the matter. Perhaps your key word is the "past tense" of the verb "use" because it is true thst urine has been thought a good treatment for various stings previously...however, new medical opinion is that such practice is now discouraged.

You definitely speak EnglIsh better than my German but please practice up on subtlety when time allows ;-)

Maybe you did'nt read my comment properly.

I did'nt recommended Urine for any Jellyfish or Blue Bottle treatment.

I comment only your statement:

"And urine is always a bad idea because of the risk of infection."

As a general recommendation, not to treat any wounds with urine, and this is wrong.

In the case you have nothing better(the question is, there is somethings better) is urine the best choice,

proven in a lot of wars all over the world for centuries.

Please NOTE:

This is article about Portuguese Man-o-War, and the article states they are different from jellyfish and the treatment of a sting is not the same. You should not apply vinegar to this type of sting.

And urine is always a bad idea because of the risk of infection.

You don't know much about urines components. If it caused infections none of us would have survived infancy given that we pissed and shat our way through year one.

Urine is filtered blood. It is totally harmless. Check some of the Harvard research. It is very beneficial for certain like stings, bites , tropical ulcers etc. It is anti septic and anti bacterial. It poses no risk of infection in fact it offers the opposite. It is often the go to solution for jellyfish stings in Australia ....don't know if it works for these Phuket dudes but it's worth a try. It certainly won't do any damage.

Nice to know someone agrees with me, I was in Dubai and got stung many times, the life guard told me to pee on my legs, i did and it felt far better !

lucky you didn't get stung near you're mouth