Ten Year Old Survives Deadly Jellyfish Sting
Ten year old Rachael Shardlow didn't know what she was in for when she went swimming in the Calliope River in Queensland. As she swam upstream from the ocean mouth of the river, she was stung by the deadly box jellyfish. Her 13 year old brother came to her rescue and dragged her up onto the shore.
Within moments of telling her brother that she couldn't see anything nor breathe, she collapsed unconscious with the jellyfish's tentacles still coiled around her body. However, Rachael survived, with some scarring and short term memory loss, but in fairly good health.
Jamie Seymour, Associate Professor, Zoology and Tropical Ecology, James Cook University, said “I don't know of anybody in the entire literature where we've studied this where someone has had such an extensive sting that has survived”, when he spoke to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“When I first saw the pictures of the injuries I just went, ‘you know to be honest, this kid should not be alive.' I mean they are horrific. Usually when you see people who have been stung by box jellyfish with that number of tentacle contacts on their body, it's usually in a morgue.”
It is common knowledge that there is no known effective anti-venom for the sting of the jellyfish. The venom attacks the heart, skin and the nervous system. This results in vomiting, rapid increase in blood pressure and shooting muscle pains. The venom is said to be so painful that victims usually find themselves in a state of shock and drown, or they die from heart failure even before they can reach the shore.
Rachael's father, Geoff Shardlow, said, “We've noticed a small amount of short term memory loss, like riding a pushbike to school and forgetting she's taken a pushbike.”
“The greatest fear was actual brain damage (but) her cognitive skill and memory tests were all fine,” he said.
Rachael's case is a reminder why many beaches in the Northern Territory and Queensland are closed down every year through the wet season from October to April because of the menace of the box jellyfish which are commonly found in Australia's northeast waters. Although some of the beaches are netted, in order to prevent these stings, most snorkelers at the Great Barrier Reef are advised to put on protective, full body stinger suits.
These jellyfish have 20 cm long shells and as many as 15 tentacles trailing up to 3 meters long.
http://www.independent.ie/health/latest-news/australian-girls-jellyfish-sting-survival-rewrites-medical-history-2153874.html
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