Photo of a man-o-war jelly that stung a man on Sand Key beach. Photo by Brian Ferraiolo.
Posted by David McRee on BlogTheBeach.com
Each year thousands of people encounter stinging jellyfish or step on a sting ray. They turn to the internet to find help. Two physicians prominent in wilderness medicine and in the treatment of injuries from marine organisms published an article in EMPulse, which is an official publication of the Florida College of Emergency Physicians. I found a link to the article on the www.buysafesea.com website, which sells SafeSea, a product that has been demonstrated to help prevent jellyfish stings if applied to the skin before exposure.
Dr. Arlen R. Stauffer and Dr. Paul S. Auerbach describe the mechanisms of marine envenomations (stings), signs and symptoms of both invertebrate (jellyfish) and vertebrate (sting rays and catfish) envenomations and the basic treatment recommendations for each.
Their article was published in the May/June 2003 edition, Vol 8 Number 3.2. Since the article is 6 years old, be aware that there may have been new treatments discovered since publication. I notice that although they recommend hot water immersion as treatment for sting ray and catfish injuries, they don’t mention it for jellyfish stings. However I am aware that some evidence has suggested that hot water immersion of the affected area (after tentacles have been removed) may provide relief in some cases for certain jellyfish stings.
Read the portion of the article that addresses jellyfish and stingray / catfish injuries.
