WOODMAN
Contributor
A friend of mine got hooked by one of those TV specials that overdramatize things (especially anything dangerous
), and now she is all upset about those "little killer jellyfish that kill dozens of people every year in Australia!". After much probing, I figured out that she was talking about Irukanji, which as you know are a variant of box jellyfish with several important differences. They are much smaller than the usual box jellies, they only have one tentacle per corner rather than the 3 or 4 characteristic of a box jelly, and the envenomization differs markedly. They often leave only vague marks on the skin when contact is made, with few initial symptoms noted. A far more serious problem (called Irukanji Syndrome) develops later, with symptoms ranging from mild pain to intensely severe cardiac and respiratory collapse, usually requiring intensive hospital care. All this is fairly well known and documented. My question is, just how bad is the problem, really? I can find precious little data on how often these little beggars actually cause trouble. I found one estimate of about 60 envenomizations a year around Cairns, but not much info from anywhere else. Also, the vague way that the syndrome presents itself and the lack of any real immediate symptoms when stinging occurs do not help with this. I have only found a few nonspecific references to actual fatalities, but a lot of the data is several years old. So, I come to my friends here for a more realistic picture of the current problem. I am sure some of you have a better handle on this, so give me some facts that I can soothe my nervous friend with. Many thanks for your help. Woody
), and now she is all upset about those "little killer jellyfish that kill dozens of people every year in Australia!". After much probing, I figured out that she was talking about Irukanji, which as you know are a variant of box jellyfish with several important differences. They are much smaller than the usual box jellies, they only have one tentacle per corner rather than the 3 or 4 characteristic of a box jelly, and the envenomization differs markedly. They often leave only vague marks on the skin when contact is made, with few initial symptoms noted. A far more serious problem (called Irukanji Syndrome) develops later, with symptoms ranging from mild pain to intensely severe cardiac and respiratory collapse, usually requiring intensive hospital care. All this is fairly well known and documented. My question is, just how bad is the problem, really? I can find precious little data on how often these little beggars actually cause trouble. I found one estimate of about 60 envenomizations a year around Cairns, but not much info from anywhere else. Also, the vague way that the syndrome presents itself and the lack of any real immediate symptoms when stinging occurs do not help with this. I have only found a few nonspecific references to actual fatalities, but a lot of the data is several years old. So, I come to my friends here for a more realistic picture of the current problem. I am sure some of you have a better handle on this, so give me some facts that I can soothe my nervous friend with. Many thanks for your help. Woody
