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Speaker 1: Stinger seasons officially begun in the Northern Territory, with box

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Speaker 1: jellyfish likely to be in our waters until the end

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Speaker 1: of May. Health authorities are reminding territorians and also visit

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Speaker 1: us to be extra vigilant around coastal waters, particularly when

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Speaker 1: launching boats and other water craft. Now joining us on

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Speaker 1: the line to tell us more about how to make

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Speaker 1: sure that we can and do stay safe, it is

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Speaker 1: Royal Darwin Hospital Professor of Medicine, Bart Curry. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to you.

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Speaker 2: Bart, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Now tell me how serious can jellyfish stings be. I

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Speaker 1: think for most of us locals we probably understand, but

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Speaker 1: just explain to us how dangerous they can be.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, the thing with our major box jellyfish is

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Speaker 2: that it is the most rapidly acting venomous creature on

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Speaker 2: the planet. That doesn't mean that there are lots of deaths,

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Speaker 2: but the thing is that when there is large contact

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Speaker 2: of lots of panic with particularly a child, then that

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Speaker 2: is a life threatening scenario. So that the last fourteen

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Speaker 2: deaths that have occurred in the NT and fortunately we

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Speaker 2: haven't had one now for fifteen years, have all been

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Speaker 2: in children. So the reason that things have gone well

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Speaker 2: I think in the last fifteen years here in the

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Speaker 2: territory is that people stay out of the water predominantly,

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Speaker 2: and particularly they keep killed children out of the water

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Speaker 2: during the sting of season. But it is such a

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Speaker 2: rapidly acting toxin that if it's a severe thing then

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Speaker 2: death unfortunately usually happens within ten minutes, sometimes even quicker

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Speaker 2: than that, and so there's very little time to get

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Speaker 2: someone up to the hospital or to health center if

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Speaker 2: it's a massive sting. And in North Queensland they've unfortunately

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Speaker 2: had a death last year in February twenty twenty two

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Speaker 2: in Mackay, and then the year before in twenty twenty one.

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Speaker 2: There is another death again in the child in March

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty one in Bamaga in the Cape of Queensland.

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Speaker 2: But we haven't had a since two thousand and seven

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Speaker 2: in the territory.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Even still though, it is just such a reminder

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Speaker 1: to make sure that you're really vigilant around the water.

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Speaker 1: I mean, what do we need to like The reality

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Speaker 1: is it sounds as though you've sort of just got

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Speaker 1: to stay out of the water in some ways, but

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Speaker 1: I know that there's people out launching boats and all

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Speaker 1: that kind of thing.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, So look, of course people people have to

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Speaker 2: launch boats and sometimes their kids may be helping them

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Speaker 2: launch the boats. So people if they do come into

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Speaker 2: contact with jellyfish but they've got skin covering, then they'll

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Speaker 2: certainly have a lot of pain if their hands frends

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Speaker 2: and saw their feet gets done. But the main thing

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Speaker 2: is to have long sleeved shirts on or stinger suits

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Speaker 2: is what people wear if you know in other parts

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Speaker 2: of Australia, and long trousers potentially, and so you can

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Speaker 2: be vigilant by of course looking around the boat launching

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Speaker 2: places and everything. But these jellyfish that we have can

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Speaker 2: be virtually invisible cliff if the water is slightly murky.

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Speaker 2: So we basically say to people if they if they

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Speaker 2: are launching boats and they're doing things like that, then

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Speaker 2: preferably just have the adults doing that and having contact

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Speaker 2: with the water. That's the seawater we're talking about, and

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Speaker 2: we advise them to be wearing clothing that would protect

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Speaker 2: a large area of contact if there are jellyfish around,

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Speaker 2: so they may be stung, but they won't have a

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Speaker 2: life threatening sting.

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Speaker 1: Now, doctor Curry, you said that you know that if

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Speaker 1: you do get stung, it can be fatal within sort

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Speaker 1: of ten minutes. Are there different steps that you can

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Speaker 1: take if you are unfortunately stung and you're not able

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Speaker 1: to get to a hospital that quickly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So the thing that's most important immediately is for

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Speaker 2: the people who are with someone who has a severe

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Speaker 2: sting to be checking airway, breathing and circulation, so standard resuscitation,

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Speaker 2: and there have been a number of instances in Queensland

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Speaker 2: in the last ten years where people bystanders have started

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Speaker 2: resuscitation of someone who is unconscious from a severe sting.

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Speaker 2: That is usually the heart being affected. So what's been

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Speaker 2: most important is for someone to be doing the cardiac compression.

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Speaker 2: So there are fortunately lots of the public who have

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Speaker 2: done first aid courses, so potentially doing CPR or cardiopulmonary

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Speaker 2: resuscitation on an individual with a severe sting may buy

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Speaker 2: a little bit of time to allow an ambulance to

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Speaker 2: arrive or to get someone up to hospital. But it's

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Speaker 2: such a difficult scenario when basically the heart goes into

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Speaker 2: a standstill with a severe with the severe things and

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Speaker 2: with less severe things and someone's conscious, then the thing

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Speaker 2: is to keep the person calm and then applying vinegar

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Speaker 2: is something that is still recommended because that will stop

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Speaker 2: further stinging from any undisc charged stinging cells that are

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Speaker 2: still on the tentacles adherent to the skin. So vinegar

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Speaker 2: applied and then and then basically if the person has

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Speaker 2: a severe thing, certainly still try and get them up

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Speaker 2: to hospital. But there are still quite a lot of

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Speaker 2: people having minus things, and people who lived in the

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Speaker 2: territory a long time will have, particularly if they're if

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Speaker 2: they're fishes, and that will have potentially experience or know

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Speaker 2: someone who's had had a minus thing on particularly a hand,

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Speaker 2: and they'll they'll certainly attest the how severe the pain is.

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Speaker 2: But that's not going to be a life threatening situation.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, goodness mate, I mean, there is so much to

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Speaker 1: worry about in the waters of the Northern Territories and

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Speaker 1: there in Northern Australia. It's it's yeah, you know, if

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Speaker 1: it's if it's not a crocodile, it's a stinger.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's right.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, anything else we should be aware of, Professor.

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Speaker 2: Curry, No, I think well, I think the thing is

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Speaker 2: and every year we say to locals is if they've

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Speaker 2: got friends and family visiting, or if they see someone

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Speaker 2: who's entering the war, who may be a tourist who

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Speaker 2: hasn't got the message, even though there are signs out

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Speaker 2: of course, and people try and put out the media

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Speaker 2: releases and everything. It's just to tell people, look, now

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Speaker 2: is the time from October the first to the end

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Speaker 2: of May. Do not end of the water particularly, don't

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Speaker 2: have kids entering the water as a general, certainly for

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Speaker 2: the purposes of going in for a bit of a dip.

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Speaker 2: And it is the shallows where the majority of things happen.

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Speaker 2: So a small kid in very shallow water can still

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Speaker 2: have a potentially fatal sting.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, no, just very quickly. Like in terms of the vinegar,

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Speaker 1: do we still sort of have a situation around around

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Speaker 1: the beaches where whether it is vinegar readily available or

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Speaker 1: is it not anymore? But in addition to that, if

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Speaker 1: you are out on a boat, I mean, and you

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Speaker 1: know you're going to maybe be be in those shallow waters,

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Speaker 1: is it something that you should sort of have nearby.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think that people on boats are recommended to

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Speaker 2: take vinegar. There's not vinegar around the beaches as there

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Speaker 2: been historically in Queensland. In sort of little containers. But

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Speaker 2: I know the surf life saving teams also obviously carry

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Speaker 2: vinegar and so they're also keeping an eye on things

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Speaker 2: as well. So vinegar is around, but it's not a

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Speaker 2: generally available thing on the beaches, So another reason why

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Speaker 2: I just stay out of the water.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. Better to be safe than sorry, that

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Speaker 1: is for sure. Professor bart Curry, we always appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having a chat with us today.

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Speaker 2: Thanks very much, Katie, Thank you.

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Speaker 1: That is Royal Darwin Hospital's well Professor of Medicine Bart

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Speaker 1: Curry there, and yeah, always make sure that you take

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Speaker 1: that precaution and be well, don't even go in the water.

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Speaker 1: It would be my suggestion. I know that for those

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Speaker 1: of you that maybe launching boats and that kind of thing,

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Speaker 1: it's a necessity, but you've heard the advice there from

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Speaker 1: Professor Curry and it is well worth taking. If you

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Speaker 1: came in at the end of that interview and you

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Speaker 1: want to go back and have a listen to it,

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Speaker 1: we will make sure that it goes up on the

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Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app and also up on the Mix one I

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Speaker 1: Full nine website. There's lots of messages coming through this morning,

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Speaker 1: quite a few emails as well. Now, if you would

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Speaker 1: like to send us an email,