by Sam E. Jones

Created on: June 14, 2010

Box jellyfish are the box shaped jellyfish that live off coasts in tropical regions, such as Hawaii parts of South America, Australia, Asia and Africa. Their sting is notoriously painful and those who are stung invariably cry for immediate relief, though for most victims, that sort of immediate relief is generally not forthcoming due to the general unavailability of pain medications in the areas where jellyfish stings occur.

At any rate, the prescribed first aid treatment for the box jellyfish is to do your best to remove the nematocysts (the stingers, in essence) from the skin of the victims as quickly and gently as possible as these nematocysts can continue to sting and inject their poison into the victim for quite some time after the initial sting.  What happens when a person gets stung is, a small little sack like structure is fired off from the jellyfish into the skin of the victim. Inside this sack are little nematocysts that inject the actual poison into the skin; thus, the first line of attack when treating a box jellyfish sting is to get those nematocysts off the skin so that they will stop firing.

The best way to get the nematocysts off the skin is to flood the area with vinegar if it is available as vinegar acts as a neutralizing agent. Do not rub our even touch the affected area.

If any of the poison has gotten into the victims eyes, immediately rinse repeatedly with warm fresh water. If blurry vision continues, take the victim to the emergency room immediately.

Next, pluck off any tentacles with a rock or stick. Do not use your own fingers as then you will get stung as well. Flood with more vinegar.

If the victim looks to be having trouble breathing, or if their heart rate starts to change, or if you have any other reason to suspect they are reacting badly to the sting, immediately take them to the emergency room. No other action is warranted.

Once you’re sure you’ve cleared all of the jellyfish tentacles or any other jellyfish looking stuff, rinse once again with vinegar and then apply an ice pack. No further action should be required as jellyfish stings heal on their own in most cases. Consult your doctor about the benefits of taking OTC pain reliever medication.

As an added note, there is no evidence proving that either human urine or meat tenderizer helps in alleviating the pain of a jellyfish sting and in fact both have been shown to actually make things worse on occasion.

Learn more about this author, Sam E. Jones.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.