Ironic Twist of Fate
A jellyfish proved to throw a spanner in the perfect life of Ben Southall. Ben, winner of Best Job in the World competition, found out that the job can sometimes turn risky so quickly as to be downright fatal. To recapitulate the story of Ben Southall- he is the British former charity worker who beat over 35,000 other applicants to land a job caretaking a desert island that resembles the set of a bounty bar advert off the coast of Queensland, Australia. His cushy job involved swimming, exploring and relaxing on the island as well as mucking around with big fish and jet-skis, hanging out with his girlfriend, mainly while wearing a swimming costume, and blog about it for 6 months, all to promote tourism. Oh, and he got paid $120,000 to do so! No wonder, it won the Best Job in the World contest hands down.
Now, when you land the best job in the world, it can only be an ironic twist of irony that throws the most poisonous animal in the world along your way! That is exactly what happened to Ben Southall. On his exciting job, he got stung by the deadly Irunkadji, also known as the box jellyfish, which infest the Australian waters. There is good reason for it to be named the deadliest creature in the world. It’s venom can kill a man in less than 3 minutes and its full dose of venom is enough to kill 60 men at a time!
This deadly jellyfish is what got Ben Southall. Its sting can lead to symptoms that include shooting pains in the muscles and chest, excruciating muscle cramps in the arms and legs, severe pain in the back and kidneys, a burning sensation of the skin and face, headaches, nausea, restlessness, sweating, vomiting, high heart rate and blood pressure, and psychological phenomena like the feeling of impending death.
If not treated quickly, the syndrome can occasionally lead to a rapid rise in blood pressure and heart failure. Many deaths are reported along Australian beaches that are caused by Irunkandji stings.
Thankfully, Ben Southall has lived to tell the tale. However, the method of promoting tourism to the island has no doubt backfired badly. However, it is important to note that with special protection gear, it is possible to avoid being stung by this deadly jellyfish. So, if you are swimming in waters that are likely to be infested by this jellyfish, ensure that you are properly protected with swimming gear specially designed to provide protection from Irukandji. This jellyfish is very hard to detect by the naked eye in the ocean and every precaution must be taken if there is even the slightest doubt that they may be infesting the water.
Link: http://news.discovery.com/animals/jellyfish-stings-man-with-best-job.html
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