The jellyfish detective who discovered the Irukandji
June 8, 2024 4:53 AM Subscribe
The jellyfish detective who discovered the Irukandji by stinging volunteers — including his 10-year-old son. A mysterious and excruciating illness was striking down beachgoers in North Queensland until the 1960s, when a doctor and a little boy went to extraordinary lengths to solve the mystery.
A scientist describes the sting of the Irukandji jellyfish:
It gives you incredible lower back pain that you would think of as similar to an electric drill drilling into your back. It gives you relentless nausea and vomiting. How does vomiting every minute to two minutes for up to 12 hours sound? Incredible. It gives waves of full body cramps, profuse sweating...the nurses have to wring out the bed sheets every 15 minutes. It gives you very great difficulty in breathing where you just feel like you can't catch your breath. It gives you this weird muscular restlessness so you can't stop moving but every time you move it hurts. It gives you a feeling of impending doom. Incredible. Patients believe they're going to die and they're so certain of it that they'll actually beg their doctors to kill them just to get it over with. And all of this from this little tiny jellyfish.
posted by verstegan at 6:08 AM on June 8 [9 favorites]
It gives you incredible lower back pain that you would think of as similar to an electric drill drilling into your back. It gives you relentless nausea and vomiting. How does vomiting every minute to two minutes for up to 12 hours sound? Incredible. It gives waves of full body cramps, profuse sweating...the nurses have to wring out the bed sheets every 15 minutes. It gives you very great difficulty in breathing where you just feel like you can't catch your breath. It gives you this weird muscular restlessness so you can't stop moving but every time you move it hurts. It gives you a feeling of impending doom. Incredible. Patients believe they're going to die and they're so certain of it that they'll actually beg their doctors to kill them just to get it over with. And all of this from this little tiny jellyfish.
posted by verstegan at 6:08 AM on June 8 [9 favorites]
jam don't shake like that
posted by HearHere at 6:30 AM on June 8 [1 favorite]
posted by HearHere at 6:30 AM on June 8 [1 favorite]
I'm surprised there haven't been more deaths. That sounds absolutely horrific.
posted by Zumbador at 7:28 AM on June 8
posted by Zumbador at 7:28 AM on June 8
Great article, but out of everything this bit jumped out:
He did not receive any praise or thanks from his taciturn father — but neither was he left traumatised by the ordeal.
Not even a thank you?!
posted by bettafish at 8:12 AM on June 8
He did not receive any praise or thanks from his taciturn father — but neither was he left traumatised by the ordeal.
Not even a thank you?!
posted by bettafish at 8:12 AM on June 8
For those of you (like me!) who didn't know:
The Irukandji jellyfish (/ɪrəˈkændʒi/ irr-ə-KAN-jee) are any of several similar, extremely venomous species of rare jellyfish. With a very small adult size of about a cubic centimetre (1 cm3 or 0.061 in3), they are both the smallest and one of the most venomous jellyfish in the world. They inhabit the northern marine waters of Australia, and cost the Australian government $AUD 3 billion annually through medical costs associated with stings and tourism losses. This type of jellyfish reproduces sexually with eggs and sperm. They fire their stingers into their victim, causing a condition known in humans as Irukandji syndrome, which can be fatal and difficult to immediately recognise due to the delayed effects of the venom.posted by praemunire at 9:18 AM on June 8
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A brilliant and meticulous ex-military commando ... A pantyhose-wearing jellyfish detective ... Armed with Aqua-Lung scuba gear and a home-made bug catcher consisting of a kitchen sieve and a biscuit tin ....
posted by chavenet at 5:51 AM on June 8