QJM Advance Access originally published online on October 12, 2006
QJM 2006 99(11):801-802; doi:10.1093/qjmed/hcl105
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Correspondence |
Jellyfish responsible for Irukandji syndrome
Sir,I enjoyed the recent letter from Little, Pereira, Carette and Seymour.1 In a field where so little is known, all contributions help expand our knowledge base. However, of the five species presented, four have been previously linked to Irukandji syndrome,2–5 and the fifth may be an erroneous attribution.
Alatina mordens was previously linked with Irukandji syndrome in its original description,2 which included variation in the number of eyes. Multiple species may someday be distinguished on the basis of their eye number as the authors have suggested, but this has not been demonstrated taxonomically.
Malo maxima was also previously linked with Irukandji syndrome in its original description,3 based on numerous eye-witness accounts of sting events identifying this as the culprit species. The genus name was derived from a person who survived a severe sting, believed to be from this species.
'Carybdea alata’ from Hawaii was previously linked with Irukandji syndrome by Yoshimoto and Yanagihara,4 although they lacked empirical evidence for positive confirmation. The Hawaiian species is now formally known as Alatina moseri, being originally named Carybdea moseri5 and then transferred to the genus Alatina.2
'Fire jellies’, also commonly called ‘Morbakka’, were previously linked with mild Irukandji syndrome by Fenner et al.6 and Williamson et al.7 The more severe case presented by Little et al.1 is certainly valuable documentation, but is not the first report of Irukandji syndrome from Morbakka.
The attribution of the stinging in Palm Cove to Carybdea xaymacana, on the basis that it was collected in nets there, appears uncertain. It is so normal for Carukia barnesi to swarm at Palm Cove in December8–10 that to attribute an Irukandji sting to another species would require strong evidence. As C. barnesi is about a third to a quarter the body size of C. xaymacana, it seems unlikely that it would have been trapped in the large-mesh nets used to collect C. xaymacana, if it was the culprit in this case.
On the other hand, there is growing circumstantial evidence that C. xaymacana and its relative C. rastonii may cause Irukandji syndrome. Several unexplainable cases of the syndrome have occurred: one near Rottnest Island (M. Corkeron, personal communication) and another nearby at a Perth beach (P. Fenner, personal communication), where C. xaymacana is common but other cubozoans have not been found; one near Queenscliff in Victoria,11 where C. rastonii is common but other cubozoans have not been found; and one at Magnetic Island off Townsville, Queensland, followed by capture of only C. rastonii despite intensive sampling for Irukandjis or Irukandji indicators (Gershwin, unpublished data).
Little et al. state that ‘published studies have often assumed that if a cubozoan jellyfish is found in a region, it is responsible for the envenoming syndrome, but with little data to support such assumptions’, but it is unclear that this description is accurate and fair, or that their identifications are more reliable than those previously published. The published identifications of Alatina mordens and Malo maxima as causing Irukandji syndrome,2,3 and similar identifications by Fenner et al.6 and Williamson et al.7 for Morbakka, were all based on eye-witness identification of species, or on specimen captures at the time of stings, similar to the evidence provided by Little et al. It remains possible that one sting is noticed, but another unnoticed sting is the one causing the syndrome, as when snake-bite victims bring in a harmless snake that they believe is the one that envenomed them. Only controlled sting experiments will ultimately prove which species give which types of stings.
School of Marine Biology and Aquaculture
James Cook University
Townsville
Australia
email: lgershwin{at}lifesaving.com.au
References
1. Little MP, Pereira P, Carrette T, Seymour J. Jellyfish responsible for Irukandji syndrome. Q J Med 2006; 99:425–7.
2. Gershwin L. Carybdea alata auct. and Manokia stiasnyi, reclassification to a new family with description of a new genus and two new species. Memoirs Queensland Museum 2005; 51:501–23.
3. Gershwin L. Two new species of jellyfishes (Cnidaria: Cubozoa: Carybdeida) from tropical Western Australia, presumed to cause Irukandji Syndrome. Zootaxa 2005; 1084:1–30.
4. Yoshimoto CM and Yanagihara AA. Cnidarian (coelenterate) envenomations in Hawai'i improve following heat application. Trans Roy Soc Trop Med Hyg 2002; 96:300–3.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]
5. Mayer AG. Medusae of the Hawaiian Islands collected by the Steamer Albatross in 1902 US Fish Commission Bulletin for 1903, 1906. Part III:1131–1143, plates I to III.
6. Fenner PJ, Fitzpatrick PF, Hartwick RJ, Skinner R. ‘Morbakka’, another cubomedusan. Med J Aust 1985; 143:536–5.[ISI][Medline]
7. Williamson J, Fenner P, Burnett J, Rifkin J. Venomous and Poisonous Marine Animals: a Medical and Biological Handbook1996; NSW University Press, Sydney.
8. Barnes JH. Cause and effect in Irukandji stingings. Med J Aust 1964; 1:897–904.
9. Fenner PJ. The toxicology and taxonomy of the Irukandji (C. barnesi) jellyfish: report of a study in progress. ACTM Bull March 2000;2–3.
10. Kinsey BE. More Barnes on Box Jellyfish1988;Townsville Sir George Fisher Centre for Tropical Marine Studies, James Cook University.
11. Cheng AC, Winkel KD, Hawdon GM, McDonald M. Irukandji-like syndrome in Victoria. Aust NZ J Med 1999; 29:835.[ISI][Medline]
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