Big Box Jellyfish Blog Southeast Asia

Australia's Sydney Morning Herald on 13 December, 2012 published a story on scientists learning more about the lethal toxin of the box jellyfish and how to combat it.

Thailand's Andaman Sea province of Satun has received a safety boost with the strategic  implementation of jellyfish information signs and some first aid vinegar stations.

Lucky to survive, a 2 year old girl is the latest victim of severe multi-tentacle box jellyfish envenomation in the Gulf of Thailand, this time on the small resort island of Koh Kood.

Vinegar stations installed in 2012 on Koh Mak have paid off already - just ask a young French girl and her family.

Dr Lisa loves jellyfish. From the tips of their tender tentacles to the glint in their beady eyes, Dr Lisa likes what she sees. And she has seen it all, up close through microscope and personal via sting. World renowned jellyfish expert Dr Lisa-ann Gershwin is an American marine biologist based in Australia. She has researched and written extensively on the subject and here on an Australian Children's TV program, 'Creature Features', Dr Lisa talks to the kids about her passion for jellyfish and what should be done to avoid and treat stings.

There's been a lot of focus on Phuket and the issue of box jellyfish - are they, aren't they, do we, don't we, should you, shouldn't you .. across the isthmus in the Gulf of Thailand is another hugely popular resort island where the evidence of box jellyfish in the water is clearer.

The tentacle connection is clear - pollution creates the box jellyfish problem.

This is not the ambulance that transported British woman Ms Sam Webster on a 6-hour hell ride from a popular west Phuket beach to the Bangkok Phuket Hospital some 10-15kms away.

Britain's Daily Mail newspaper reported this week on the sting to Ms Sam Webster with a feature article highlighting the traumatic experience endured somewhere in the Phuket vicinity.

Great to hear that the Berjaya Resort Langkawi has continued to buck the trend of apathy, irresponsibility and disdain that to this day defines the attitude of Malaysia on the public health issue of box jellyfish stings that country refuses to address.

On March 25, 2012 an American woman survived a serious box jellyfish sting received when swimming in the north of Koh Samui. She received hospitalisation and medication. The dermo-necrotic element of the venom killed the skin area and she has had to endure repeated plastic surgery episodes to repair the damage.

Numerous jellyfish stings have been reported here in recent months with some appearing to be from various species of box jellyfish and others not. Of course, as mentioned in previous posts, this blog is not a sting reporting system so it is anyone's guess as to how many stings are occurring at any moment. We know of stings around Railay, Phuket, Samui and Koh Kood but here's one from Khao Lak on June 30, 2012 - a location that is not often reported although there was a solid box jellyfish sting report from a Khao Lak beach in April, 2012.