Treatment for box jellyfish Rinse the area with vinegar for at least 30 seconds. 3. If vinegar is not available, carefully remove tentacles and rinse well with sea water.
Rinse area with vinegar (5% acetic acid) for 15 minutes. Reason: Stops the stingers from stinging if still attached to the skin.
Treatment can vary based on the type of jellyfish most common in the area. Often, it's best to rinse a sting with vinegar. Vinegar is a weak acid that might keep the stingers from firing for some kinds of stings (especially from dangerous types like box jellyfish).
Rinse the area with vinegar for at least 30 seconds. Remove tentacles with a pair of tweezers. After you remove the tentacles, soak the affected area in hot water (104-113 F or 40-45 C) for at least 20 minutes. If you don't have a thermometer, make sure the water is hot but not scalding.
First-aid care
Use water that's 110 to 113 F (43 to 45 C). It should feel hot, not scalding. Keep the affected skin immersed or in a hot shower until the pain eases, which might be 20 to 45 minutes. Apply 0.5% to 1% hydrocortisone cream or ointment twice a day to the affected skin.
Wash the tentacles and venom off the affected area of your body with seawater. Don't use freshwater. Using tweezers or gloved hands, remove any tentacles you see in your skin. Apply vinegar or rubbing alcohol to the affected area to stop any more firings of nematocysts.
At the sting site there is a characteristic raised red line that remains for hours to days. There is good evidence immersing someone in hot water works when treating bluebottle stings. Hot water inactivates the jellyfish toxins and so stops the pain; it is effective in about 90% of cases after 20 minutes.
The Australian Resuscitation Council recommends the use of vinegar as first aid treatment for some jellyfish stings, including those that cause Irukandji syndrome (Australian Resuscitation Council 2010).
1. Vinegar. Why it helps: Wasp stings are less acidic as bee stings and have more of an alkalinity. Therefore, the acidity of the vinegar helps neutralize the alkalinity of the sting.
If someone is stung in a tropical area, pour vinegar on the sting site for 30 seconds, remove any tentacles from the skin and take the person to hospital. If someone is stung in a non-tropical area, wash the sting site with sea water, remove any tentacles and immerse the site in hot water.
Treatment for box jellyfish
Rinse the area with vinegar for at least 30 seconds. 3. If vinegar is not available, carefully remove tentacles and rinse well with sea water.
Heat is the key
“And if you Google it, many sites —even those considered reputable—will tell you to put ice on a sting to dull the pain. But research to date has shown that all marine venoms are highly heat sensitive, thus hot water or hot packs should be more effective than cold packs or ice.”
For bluebottle stings, do not apply alcohol and do not apply vinegar. While vinegar is appropriate for C. fleckeri stings, vinegar may cause bluebottle nematocysts to discharge.
In severe cases, blisters and welts that look like a string of beads may appear. Seabather's eruption is a rash that develops from the stings of jellyfish or sea anemone larvae. The rash can be itchy and annoying. It usually goes away without medical treatment in 10 to 14 days.
When an itchy rash occurs several days to weeks after a sting, the rash may mean a delayed skin reaction has occurred. A delayed reaction can occur many times over the course of 1 to 2 months following a sting. You may have a fever, weakness, or joint stiffness or swelling.
Most jellyfish stings get better over a few days or weeks with home treatment. Severe reactions likely need emergency medical care.
After a sting, the first step is to rinse, not rub, the area with salt water to wash off stingers. Fresh water doesn't work as well, because it often has chlorine in it, which can make stingers sink further into the skin, said Bruce Fuller, a local dermatologist.
Similar to other box jellyfish stings, first aid consists of flushing the area with vinegar to neutralize the tentacle stinging apparatus. As no antivenom is available, treatment is largely supportive, with analgesia being the mainstay of management.
Fortunately, many people can take steps to avoid jellyfish stings when swimming by checking with local health departments and lifeguards about water conditions. If jellyfish have been reported in the water, do not go swimming. Other preventive measures include: Use protective lotions.
No direct antivenom for the venom of C. barnesi or other Irukandji-causative species currently exists. As such, treatment is largely supportive.
They are small enough that they often cannot be seen and easily get stuck between the skin and bathing garments. When this happens, they can discharge their nematocysts (part of the tentacles that release venom), essentially causing a jellyfish sting under the swimsuit.
However, in the event you do come in contact with a jellyfish and are stung, we recommend you help diminish the pain by treating the affected area with ammonia poured over the skin or simply apply meat tenderizer or toothpaste. The best way to avoid stings is, of course, to avoid jellyfish areas.
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Jellyfish Sting Symptoms
Persistent redness and irritation after 2-3 days may signal bacterial infection of the wound.
1 Immediately flood the entire stung area with lots of vinegar for at least 30 seconds. DO NOT use fresh water. If pain relief is required, apply a cold pack only after vinegar has been applied. 2 Urgently seek medical aid at a hospital if symptoms are severe.