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Don't touch: Cephea cephea in the water at Nai Harn, February 2009

Jellyfish Menace Spreads in Thailand Waters

Monday, March 22, 2010
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 Hospital
Latest A four year old French boy was recovering in hospital after a drama at the southern Phuket beach of Nai Harn. Public Health officials are determining the cause of his pain.
Marine Stings Put French Boy in Phuket Hospital

Swedish Girl Survives Box Jellyfish Attack
Latest Have there been unreported deaths from box jellyfish in Thailand? The mother of a Swedish girl who narrowly survived an attack says she was told there have been unreported deaths.
Swedish Girl Survives Box Jellyfish Attack

Phuket Jellyfish: Warning Cover 'Makes No Sense'
Latest A Phuket seminar on jellyfish is told that transparency is the wisest course. Warning signs on Koh Lanta in Krabi were painted over after the death of a young tourist there.
Phuket Jellyfish: Warning Cover 'Makes No Sense'

Alarm as Box Jellyfish Kills Tourist on Langkawi
Breaking News Latest A box jellyfish is being blamed for the death of a Swedish tourist on Langkawi. Concern about the possible presence of marine stingers is being reignited by media reports.
Alarm as Box Jellyfish Kills Tourist on Langkawi

On Phuket Beaches, 'Tis the Season to be Jelly
Latest Last year's jellyfish alarms did not produce reports of large numbers of serious stings. But if jellyfish do arrive on Phuket, what precautions should be taken?
On Phuket Beaches, 'Tis the Season to be Jelly

Phuket's Jellyfish Specialists Ready for Action
Photo Album Phuket's jellyfish are likely to return from November. If we are going to share Thailand's beaches, learning about these other 'tourists' is a scientific and medical priority.
Phuket's Jellyfish Specialists Ready for Action

Comments

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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

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Another way to emergency treating jelly bite/rash is urine in case nothing else is on hand. It works. Then should be treated in hospital.

Editor: The experts say vinegar is the only real treatment for a box jellyfish sting, although soft drink may help a little if no vinegar is at hand.

Posted by hirondelle on March 28, 2010 05:21

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Koh Chang may be in Thailand but its a totally different sea area, Gulf of Thailand has the occasional box jellyfish because its part of the same sea area where they occur, Phuket is not.

Posted by Michael on March 31, 2010 19:02

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Recently my beach (Maenam, Koh Samui) was full of a very small jellyfish, from about the size of 10bht coin down to smaller than a 1 bht coin. The creature was bright blue with a transparent centre.
Can anybody identify this jellyfish.
People were swimming amongst them with no stings, but this could have just been good luck

Posted by David on November 8, 2011 17:56

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Eutriphication arising from release of chemical fertilizer to the ocean produces a low oxygen, heightened acidity regime conducive to growth of jellyfish and aggressive to fish species.

Indications are that this is responsible for the increase of jellyfish worldwide and Australia's Great Barrier Reef has experienced a steady increase over the past 50 years.

Where large rivers enter the sea, jellyfish numbers increase now appear to rise in preference to deflection of river water by offshore ocean currents ie. Brazil.

It seems this phenomenon is another expression of the creation of eutrophic 'dead zones' featuring reduced oxygen and raised acidity levels around the world.

Posted by barry hayes on March 4, 2012 11:39


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