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In reply: Fatal envenomation by jellyfish causing Irukandji syndrome

Peter J Fenner and John C Hadok
Med J Aust 2003; 178 (3): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2003.tb05110.x
Published online: 3 February 2003

In reply: While overcoagulation causing intracerebral haemorrhage could have caused the death of the patient we described,1 he was normotensive until developing signs and symptoms of Irukandji syndrome some 20 minutes after being stung. The Irukandji syndrome is, and always has been, a clinical diagnosis only. Biochemical and pathological test results become abnormal later, but are not diagnostic — actual cause and effect have been described only once, with the experiment unlikely to be repeated!2




Correspondence: 

  • 1. Fenner PJ, Hadok JC. Fatal envenomation by jellyfish causing Irukandji syndrome. Med J Aust 2002; 177: 362-363. <eMJA full text>
  • 2. Barnes JH. Cause and effect in Irukandji stingings. Med J Aust 1964; 1: 897-904.
  • 3. Barnes JH. Observations on jellyfish stingings in North Queensland. Med J Aust 1960; 2: 993-999.
  • 4. Currie BJ, Wood YK. Identification of Chironex fleckeri envenomation by nematocyst recovery from skin. Med J Aust 1995; 162: 478-480.
  • 5. Fenner PJ, Carney I. The Irukandji syndrome: a devastating syndrome caused by a north Australian jellyfish. Aust Fam Physician 1999; 28: 1131-1137.
  • 6. Fenner PJ, Williamson J, Callanan VI, Audley I. Further understanding of, and a new treatment for, "Irukandji" (Carukia barnesi) stings. Med J Aust 1986; 145: 569-574.
  • 7. Fenner PJ, Williamson JA, Burnett JW, et al. The "Irukandji syndrome" and acute pulmonary oedema. Med J Aust 1988; 149: 150-156.
  • 8. Little M, Mulcahy RF. A year's experience of Irukandji envenomation in far north Queensland. Med J Aust 1998; 169: 638-641. <eMJA full text>

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