Australian girl survived deadly box jellyfish sting
A 10-year-old Australian child, Rachel Shardlow, was stung by the world’s most venomous creature back in December and surprisingly survived.
Rachel Shardlow came in contact with a box jellyfish, which is capable of killing an adult, when she and her brother were swimming in the Calliope River. The box jellyfish wrapped its tentacles around her leg and shot its poisonous venom into her.
Her brother pulled her from the water before she lost consciousness. She remained six weeks in the hospital, recovering from the attack and experienced some short-memory loss. The attack normally kills adult people in just 4 minutes by going in to shock when they are stung and then drown.
Scientists are baffled that the youth was able to survive the sting, as the extensive stings that they usually see are on people in morgues, and those who don’t drown typically die from heart failure from the venom.
Jamie Seymour, specialist, told ABC: “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 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.”
The box jellyfish is also dubbed “the world’s most venomous creature”, and has about a half million harpoon shaped needles that inject venom into their victim. The pain from getting stung by one of these creatures is excruciating.
The creature actively hunts its prey, unlike other jellyfish that sort of just float around. Their venom attacks the heart, nervous system, and skin cells. Extensive scarring can be expected where tentacles made contact with the skin.
Related News
