Japanese high school kids develop jellyfish sting cream

serendipitous1

The thread contain a large number of posts on treatment too - just contributing...

But as I wrote in the beginning, if they plan to market it and sell it, some professional help with cream formulation, thixotropy, and stabilty would be useful. Incorporating divalent ions into existing cream formulations, beyond determining the optimum concentration, can affect the stability of the emulsion/ cream, pourability, adhesion to skin surface, and importantly for commercial use, product life.

wanderlust

The cream is supposed to prevent stings in the first place, it's not about treatment after a sting.

Thia would appear to be a promising strategy, and some professional help with cream formulation, thixotropy, and stabilty would be useful. Looking at other stategies, rinsing with seawater, for example, only spreads the sting to a larger area. Scraping off the tentacles with a credit card—a method recommended even by well-respected healthcare organizations—is an equally bad strategy. Scraping the wound applies pressure that causes stingers to release more venom. Urinating on the area has now been relegated to folk tale and myth status.

In a best-case scenario, urine will act as a neutral solution that just moves the tentacles around. But urine doesn’t have a consistent chemical makeup. Depending on various factors, such as whether a person is dehydrated and what they’ve eaten that day, urine might actually contain chemical compounds that trigger stinging cells to fire. “It can cause massive stinging,” she says. 

To stop the sting and bring relief, Univ of Hawaii venom scientist Christie Wilcox recommends a three-step treatment:

Douse the area with vinegar, to rinse away the tentacles and deactivate the stinging cells. If you do this first, you won’t spread the sting to other areas when you attempt to remove the tentacles.

Pluck off the tentacles with tweezers. Scraping them off or rubbing with sand (another recommended approach) triggers any active stingers to release more venom, so you want to delicately lift the tentacles off the skin.

Apply heat.

While many medical professionals advise ice, and an ice pack may indeed temporarily numb the area, cold preserves the venom that’s already been injected, and in some cases may even enhance the action of the toxin, Wilcox says. Instead, heat permanently inactivates the venom, she says.

As a diver, hot water immersion (HWI) (42-45 deg C for 30-90 minutes) is also well known as a means of reducing pain following other stings, such as stonefish, scorpionfish, until medical advice and support can be obtained. Significant burns have only been reported in 1 out of 200 cases in a review paper from Cambridge Univ, UK.

Feel sorry for the (guinea pig) kids who had to touch jellyfish to make sure the cream worked!

Isn't there a law controlling this kind of thing? One would expect such product would undergo testing to ensure its contact with human skin doesn't result in allergic reactions, etc.

Good for them. But as Alex Einz says, SafeSea works and is already on the market.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/SafeSea-%E3%82%BB%E3%83%BC%E3%83%95%E3%82%B7%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%82%BB%E3%82%A4%E3%83%95%E3%82%B7%E3%83%BC-SPF40-100ml-%E3%82%B9%E3%83%97%E3%83%AC%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%97/dp/B00T3JAFS6/ref=sr_1_4?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&qid=1534471741&sr=8-4&keywords=Safe+Sea+Anti-jellyfish+Sting+Protective+Lotion

are they reinventing the wheel again or its just a marketing scheme by the school...?

1 SafeSea Jellyfish Sting Protection Cream Sea Lice Lotion Prevention Waterproof !

*Scientifically developed to help protect against the stinging of most jellyfish, Sea Nettle, Sea Lice and Coral.**

Scientists determined that a specific combination of glycosaminoglycans, magnesium and potassium chloride that naturally coat the Clown Fish helped neutralize the stinging mechanism of most jelly fish and other similar sea creatures.

Patented formula is in a bottle and ready to be packed for your next day at the beach.

Use with sunscreen SPF 15 or SPF 30

Safe Sea is fragrance and PABA free

Waterproof

Urine is a myth and absolute fiction , vinegar works to dissolve once stung and to remove the inhibitors but wont cure the itchiness and will not work for some jellies...

that said, commercial anti products already available and working pretty well... such as SafeSea ... not sure why its not popular in japan but i have used it for last few years and its great both as sunscreen and jelly prevention.. I guess they guard their recipe and its patented so companies cant reproduce it easily...

@JeffLee - The leading research says cheap, plain old vinegar is the best way of dealing with jellyfish stings.

Read it again! This cream stops the stings. Vinegar treats the stings. Two entirely different things.

I've had hundreds of jellyfish stings from many different kinds in over 30 years of surfing. The Portuguese man-of-war (blue bottle) is definitely the most painful. Vinegar does stop the sting quite quickly, but the itchy welts remain for a couple of weeks. Having a cream that prevents the stings would be very beneficial. I'll be very interested in following this cream to see how effective it is. If it is effective it would have a large market in northern Australia for the box jellyfish and the Urakanji.

Gogogo

"Just bottle urine, it works, don't ask me how I know."

Unfortunately, that is just a myth.

Wow, at 17 I was playing with my playstation. I can't imagine doing research at that age. Impressive.

Good on them! I did a quick google search and while this kind of product already exists (eg. Sea Safe line of lotions), it doesn't seem so popular. Wonder if vinegar is just that much more effective and/or cheap?

The leading research says cheap, plain old vinegar is the best way of dealing with jellyfish stings. It inhibits the stingers as soon as it's poured on. This probably explains why the pharmaceutical industry hasn't done much in this area.

https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2017/03/20/uh-researchers-current-jellyfish-sting-recommendations-can-worsen-stings/

Just bottle urine, it works, don't ask me how I know.

Who needs universities when high schoolers are doing the research and development. Good job

Come and marketing in Australia, where Jellyfish stinking takes place every summer on the beach especially Queensland.

I can just imagine the potential for a product like this, mix it together with the aerosol or cream based sun screens/sun blocks and I can not imagine why in the future it would not become standard in the areas of the world that have problems with jelly fish stings!

Keep up the good work!

:)