Do we know the best treatment for jellyfish stings?
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What is the Most Effective Treatment for Relieving the Pain of a Jellyfish Sting? Ostermayer DG, Koyfman A. Ann Emerg Med 2015 Apr;65:432-433.
Reference
This short article manages to pack a maximum amount of confusion into a very small space. The authors perform a literature search to find evidence that would answer their title question, but come up with only a single relevant randomized controlled trial that included exclusively stings from a specific jellyfish, the bluebottle (Physalia).
That study involved 96 subjects with apparent bluebottle stings, and compared immersion of the affected body part in 45oC water with application of ice packs. In that paper, hot water immersion was clearly superior. According to the International Life Saving Federation, the common belief that application of vinegar will improve outcomes applies only to stings by box jellyfish. (Vinegar will not decrease pain, but only deactivate nematocysts that have not yet fired and halt profession of symptoms.) Pace the “Friends” episode excerpted above, there have been no double-blind randomized controlled trials of peeing on jellyfish stings of any type.
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Source: The Poison Review - Category: Toxicology Authors: Leon Tags: Medical bluebottle jellyfish peeing physalia portuguese man of war sting treatment urine vinegar Source Type: news