Box Jellyfish attack Rachael Shardlow
(Photograph: ABC TV/AFP/Getty Images)
Doctors in Australia have described their amazement at the recovery of a girl who was left unconscious after swimming into the tentacles of a box jellyfish.
Rachael Shardlow, 10, suffered horrific injuries to her legs and body when she came into contact with the jellyfish while swimming in an estuary in Queensland, Australia, in December.The girl, who was pulled from the river with the stinging tentacles still clinging to her limbs, lost her vision and then stopped breathing and fell unconscious in the arms of her brother.
Jamie Seymour, who has studied jellyfish for 20 years at Queensland's James Cook University told reporters the extent of the sting was "horrific"."When I first saw the pictures of the injuries I just went, 'you know to be honest, this kid should not be alive'. Usually when you see people who have been stung by box jellyfish with that number of the tentacle contacts on their body, it's in a morgue."
Box jellyfish are the most dangerous and venomous jellyfish in the world. Adults can grow to 30cm wide with up to 60 tentacles that stretch up to 2 metres long. They are transparent in the water, making them exceptionally difficult to see. At least 63 people are known to have died from being stung by box jellyfish.
Each box jellyfish tentacle contains millions of stinging cells called nematocysts, which release venom on contact. Trying to remove the tentacles can cause more venom to be discharged. Death can occur within five minutes of being stung. "These animals kill humans faster than any other venomous animal we know," Dr Seymour said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/27/box-jellyfish-stings-australian-girl-survives
Janet> Wow! Thank God the little girl survived. It's crazy how something that beautiful (box jellyfish) could be so lethal hey? Have you ever been stung by a venomous animal? How did you cope with it?
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A very enjoyable album of 80s
A very enjoyable album of 80s dance/pop/rock- for a commercial group, Roxette had the whole package: solid melodies, capable lyrics, excellent vocals (with an especially nice contrast between the male and female voices), generally terrific production (sure, it's dated, but fun); the only thing close to a dud here is 'View From A Hill' which could have been left off and gone unmissed by me; this album gets a point less from me than the next two because there's not quite as much here that truly touches the heart as there is on their later work- but nevertheless, get LOOK SHARP! and have a blast!
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Upon release, I was
Upon release, I was embarrassed to admit just how much I liked this band. This is very slick, shiny, professional, pop music; and I was coming out of my hard rock/metal lust and moving towards the indie rock/grunge that was to come. 4A0-103 There was nothing "cool" about Roxette, and everybody from 6 year olds to fully grown insurance salespeople found something to enjoy in their music. 642-972 I had always gravitated to "image" and Roxette severely challenged me to overlook image and take music for what it was.
To be honest, I doubt I would've liked Roxette so much if 650-180 I hadn't gone through a phase that expanded my taste to include The Fixx and Wang Chung (finding both bands to be quite enjoyable). By this point, I lost my aversion to keyboards and new wave music. "The Look" had a nice Rickenbacker guitar line, but it had a drum machine, synthesizers, and stacked vocals ("Na Na Na Na Na Na", anyone?). 1Y0-A06 "Dangerous" was a full-fledged kitchen-sink production that was potently catchy, so shiny and perfect that only robots could've executed it. This was far simpler and easier to process than most of what I was listening to at the time.
Box jellyfish
Indeed, I was also shocked when I heard the news about the survival of this 10-year-old girl after being stung by box jellyfish. Actually, many thinks that what happened to Rachel Shardlow was a miracle because research proven that the box jellyfish is known to be one of the deadliest creatures in the world, capable of killing an adult human being in just four minutes. She made it after being stung horribly by a box jellyfish. By all accounts not anyone, even a healthy adult, should have been able to endure the level of jellyfish sting she got. Nevertheless, this marvelous girl did endure and is now doing well. The scaring no longer hurts her as much as itches, and this only 1 month after the incident. I am pleased for this child and hope she has a bright healthy and happy future.