Ice, Not Vinegar, For Sea Stings
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday March 31, 1993
With the emergence of a larger and more dangerous jellyfish off Australian waters, beach-goers have been warned to abandon vinegar as a first-aid treatment for stings by researchers who have established that it increases the amount of venom released by up to 30 per cent.
A marine stinger officer with the Surf Life Saving Association of Queensland, Dr Peter Fenner, has warned that vinegar should not be used because it will be impossible for people to tell the difference between a sting from a bluebottle or the newly identified Physalia physalis .
He has urged that ice, or cold packs, be used for all jellyfish stings -barring stings by the deadly box jellyfish.
The Australian Resuscitation Council's policy on stings, last released in July 1991, was that, despite reservations, vinegar should be used in all jellyfish stings.
The new jellyfish is believed to be the same as, or similar to, the potentially lethal western Atlantic species, commonly referred to as the Portuguese man-o'-war, which has been responsible for three reported deaths on the east coast of the United States.
First sighted off Queensland waters in October 1991, they have float lengths of up to 15 centimetres, up to five main tentacles, usually dark blue, with up to 10 other long, thin, pale coloured tentacles.
The symptoms of being stung last up to an hour, and include severe skin pain, nausea, vomiting, abdominal colic, limb muscle cramps, anxiety, restlessness and chest pain.
Stings from the common bluebottle, which has a float length of three to eight centimetres and usually has only a single long main tentacle, result in skin pain, wealing and occasionally pain in the regional lymph glands.
© 1993 Sydney Morning Herald