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Doctor advises stingray victims to seek assistance

Anyone stung by a stingray should seek immediate medical assistance as the spine contains a potentially deadly venom, a doctor from a central Taiwan hospital warned yesterday.

Lu Li-hua (盧立華), director of the Emergency Department of Tung's Taichung Metro Harbor Hospital, said the hospital recently treated three people who had been stung by stingrays: a 39-year-old Taiwanese man and a 28-year-old foreign national, who were stung by rays as they were collecting fishing nets, and a 28-year-old chef, who was stung while preparing a dish featuring the fish.

Lu said that most people stung by stingrays had either been fishing or preparing the fish for cooking.

He said symptoms after being stung included severe pain, chest pain or chest tightness, palpitations, night sweats, dizziness and, in the most serious cases, death.

He said that after being stung, victims should immerse the affected area in hot water at a temperature of between 41?C and 45?C, and seek urgent medical assistance. Sting victims should remain under observation in hospital for at least six hours, he added.

The most famous stingray-related injury resulted in the death of Steve "the Crocodile Hunter" Irwin.

Irwin, an Australian wildlife expert and TV personality, achieved worldwide fame from his TV show The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series co-hosted by his wife, Terri Irwin.

On Sept. 4 last year, Irwin was fatally stung in the chest by a stingray while snorkeling at Batt Reef off the coast of Port Douglas, Queensland, on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
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