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Debunking Jellyfish Sting Relief

Hubert Figuière / Flickr
Hubert Figuière / Flickr

Each year jellyfish stings kill more people than shark attacks.  Although most jellyfish stings are not lethal, their stings can lead to a painful lasting burn. 

There are also conflicting opinions on how to properly treat them.  But researchers from the University of Hawai‘i’s Pacific Biosciences Research Center say soothing a sting with ice may not be the solution.

Dr. Angel Yanagihara is the director of the Pacific Cnidaria Research Laboratory.   While researching the project she found there was a large amount of incorrect information and urban myths surrounding treatment.  So they back tracked, sifting through more than 2000 scientific sources, as well as their own testing to find a solution.  They’ve settled on a two-part solution of vinegar and heat.  After getting stung, douse the wound in vinegar to counteract the sting, and then treat the area in warm water.

Yanagihara’s team is currently doing more tests about jellyfish sting treatment.  They’ve also released a sting relief product called Sting No More, which is available locally and on line.  The findings were recently published in the science journal called “Toxins”.

Nick Yee’s passion for music developed at an early age, as he collected jazz and rock records pulled from dusty locations while growing up in both Southern California and Honolulu. In college he started DJing around Honolulu, playing Jazz and Bossa Nova sets at various lounges and clubs under the name dj mr.nick. He started to incorporate Downtempo, House and Breaks into his sets as his popularity grew, eventually getting DJ residences at different Chinatown locations. To this day, he is a fixture in the Honolulu underground club scene, where his live sets are famous for being able to link musical and cultural boundaries, starting mellow and building the audience into a frenzy while steering free of mainstream clichés.
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