Stings and bites

Aquatic animals

Seawater

Jellyfish: jellyfish are not frequent visitors to our shores but if you do come across one and touch it, it could cause intense itching and dermatitis.
Action and treatment

• Wash the site with salt water without touching the affected area.
• Remove any tentacle that might be hooked on, with a damp towel. Do not touch. If necessary, make up a paste of sodium bicarbonate and mud or vinegar.
• If it is painful, take a painkiller.

Sea urchins: sea urchins prick rather than bite or sting. Their spines are calcareous and should be removed immediately.
Treatment

• Remove the spines immediately.
• Wash the site and apply antiseptic.
• If the spines, which are calcareous, remain incrusted, try softening them with vinegar to dissolve them.

Sea scorpion: this fish lies half buried in the sand and, if trodden on, stabs the bather's foot with its dorsal fin, causing a very painful wound.
Treatment

• Remove the spines with some tweezers.
• Wash the site with salt water.
• The venom is thermolabile thermolabile, so plunge your foot, or affected area, into hot water.
• If painful, take a painkiller.

Freshwater

Leeches: in our habitat, it is not common for people bathing in rivers and lakes to get bitten, but it can happen in the tropics.
Treatment

• Remove the leech by rubbing the area with salt.
• Wash the site with soap and water, squeezing it to extract the anticoagulant injected and make it easier to suck the wound.
• Spit out.
• Apply antiseptic.