RESEARCHERS have found a box jellyfish in the sea off Koh Mak in the Gulf of Thailand but cleared Nai Harn beach on Phuket of the presence of the deadly creatures.
A nine-year-old Swedish tourist, Ida Rosenberg, was fortunate to be treated immediately with vinegar and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation after being stung earlier this month while swimming on a beach at Koh Mak, which is close to Koh Chang, Thailand's second-largest island.
On Friday four-year-old French visitor Aymeric Roussel was stung at Nai Harn beach on Phuket, probably by a jellyfish known as Cephea cephea, and treated on the beach and later at a Phuket City Hospital.
A research team sampled the water off Nai Harn using a long net and captured only the cephea cephea, a familiar visitor to the beach in past high seasons.
The jellyfish stings but is not dangerously toxic.
A similar sampling off Koh Mak, however, produced two types of box jellyfish, including a juvenile Chironex.
This box jellyfish is regarded as the most toxic creature on earth.
A Swedish woman who died quickly on a beach on the Malaysian island of Langkawi earlier this year is believed to have been the victim of Chironex.
Phuket Marine Biology Centre is regarded as the South East Asia region's prime authority on jellyfish and has helped the Public Health Department to prepare for the possible spread of Chironex in the region.
Confirmation of the most deadly species of box jellyfish being in Thai waters means swimmers need to be alert for what's in the water.
Beach vendors and coastal resorts should ensure that vinegar, the only known treatment for a box jellyfish strike, is at hand at all times.
Another young girl, also from Sweden, was killed by a box jellyfish sting on Koh Lanta, off Krabi, in 2008.
Since then, the Phuket Marine Biology Centre and Public Health authorities have had the assistance of training from experts in Australia and become prepared for the possibility of Chironex continuing to spread.
Marine Stings Put French Boy in Phuket HospitalA nine-year-old Swedish tourist, Ida Rosenberg, was fortunate to be treated immediately with vinegar and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation after being stung earlier this month while swimming on a beach at Koh Mak, which is close to Koh Chang, Thailand's second-largest island.
On Friday four-year-old French visitor Aymeric Roussel was stung at Nai Harn beach on Phuket, probably by a jellyfish known as Cephea cephea, and treated on the beach and later at a Phuket City Hospital.
A research team sampled the water off Nai Harn using a long net and captured only the cephea cephea, a familiar visitor to the beach in past high seasons.
The jellyfish stings but is not dangerously toxic.
A similar sampling off Koh Mak, however, produced two types of box jellyfish, including a juvenile Chironex.
This box jellyfish is regarded as the most toxic creature on earth.
A Swedish woman who died quickly on a beach on the Malaysian island of Langkawi earlier this year is believed to have been the victim of Chironex.
Phuket Marine Biology Centre is regarded as the South East Asia region's prime authority on jellyfish and has helped the Public Health Department to prepare for the possible spread of Chironex in the region.
Confirmation of the most deadly species of box jellyfish being in Thai waters means swimmers need to be alert for what's in the water.
Beach vendors and coastal resorts should ensure that vinegar, the only known treatment for a box jellyfish strike, is at hand at all times.
Another young girl, also from Sweden, was killed by a box jellyfish sting on Koh Lanta, off Krabi, in 2008.
Since then, the Phuket Marine Biology Centre and Public Health authorities have had the assistance of training from experts in Australia and become prepared for the possibility of Chironex continuing to spread.
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Why is that woman standing right next to a jelly fish! How crazy, if that touched her she would be in so much pain.
Posted by Jamie on March 23, 2010 22:29