Home » Health » Health. Jellyfish sting: how to treat it?

Health. Jellyfish sting: how to treat it?

Last Sunday, during the Monte-Cristo Challenge in Marseille, “the swimmers involved in the 5 km and 6 km events set off from the Château d’If (…) but barely a few hundred meters after the starting line, the participants were confronted with a huge school of jellyfish ”, reported our colleagues from the daily newspaper Provence.

As a result, many cases of burns that the emergency services had to take care of. Because no, the jellyfish does not sting. In fact, the filaments of the animal have a strong stinging power. It is then more appropriate to speak of burning, as in contact with nettles for example.

This power, the animal keeps it even stranded on a beach. The main audiences to be victims are children on the sand (often attracted by this gelatinous mass) and therefore swimmers, as was the case last weekend.

First of all, reassure yourself. If these burns are often very painful, they are rarely serious, except in allergic subjects.

If you come into contact with a jellyfish:

  • Rinse the wound with sea water. Especially not with fresh water which will tend to release the venom.
  • Apply sand to the wound and let it dry. Then remove the sand using a stiff cardboard to remove the stinging cells still present on the skin.
  • Rinse again.
  • Disinfect with an antiseptic.
  • Avoid going swimming for a few hours and stay in the shade.
  • If in doubt, seek the advice of a doctor or pharmacist.

Beware of received ideas

Many grandmothers’ remedies are circulating, such as urinating on the wound, for example. In addition to being unsavory, this method has not been proven. And the risk of superinfection is however very real.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.