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Impact of Stinging Jellyfish Proliferations along South Italian Coasts: Human Health Hazards, Treatment and Social Costs
Stinging jellyfish outbreaks represent a health hazard, causing contact dermatitis and systemic reactions. This study investigated the epidemiology, severity, and treatment protocols of jellyfish stings in a coastal area with high tourist development and frequent stinging jellyfish outbreaks of the...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2014
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3986988/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24583831 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph110302488 |
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author | De Donno, Antonella Idolo, Adele Bagordo, Francesco Grassi, Tiziana Leomanni, Alessandro Serio, Francesca Guido, Marcello Canitano, Mariarita Zampardi, Serena Boero, Ferdinando Piraino, Stefano |
author_facet | De Donno, Antonella Idolo, Adele Bagordo, Francesco Grassi, Tiziana Leomanni, Alessandro Serio, Francesca Guido, Marcello Canitano, Mariarita Zampardi, Serena Boero, Ferdinando Piraino, Stefano |
author_sort | De Donno, Antonella |
collection | PubMed |
description | Stinging jellyfish outbreaks represent a health hazard, causing contact dermatitis and systemic reactions. This study investigated the epidemiology, severity, and treatment protocols of jellyfish stings in a coastal area with high tourist development and frequent stinging jellyfish outbreaks of the central Mediterranean (Salento, Southern Italy), and the associated costs for the Italian National Health Service. In 2007–2011, 1,733 bathers (mostly children and females) sought medical assistance following jellyfish stings, the main cause of human pathologies due to contact with marine organisms. The majority of events were reported in the years 2007–2009, whereas the occurrence of cnidarian jellyfish outbreaks has been increasingly reported in the same area since summer 2010. Most symptoms were limited to local and cutaneous reactions; conversely, 8.7% of cases evoked complications, mainly due to allergic reactions. The main drugs used were corticosteroids, locally applied and systemic (46% and 43%, respectively), and with ammonia (74%) as the main non-pharmacological treatment. The estimated cost of jellyfish-related first-aid services along the Salento coastline over the 5-year period was approximately 400,000 Euros. Therefore the management of jellyfish outbreak phenomena need coordinated research efforts towards a better understanding of underlying ecological mechanisms, together with the adoption of effective prevention policy, mitigation strategies, and appropriate planning of health services at tourist hot spots. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3986988 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-39869882014-04-15 Impact of Stinging Jellyfish Proliferations along South Italian Coasts: Human Health Hazards, Treatment and Social Costs De Donno, Antonella Idolo, Adele Bagordo, Francesco Grassi, Tiziana Leomanni, Alessandro Serio, Francesca Guido, Marcello Canitano, Mariarita Zampardi, Serena Boero, Ferdinando Piraino, Stefano Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Stinging jellyfish outbreaks represent a health hazard, causing contact dermatitis and systemic reactions. This study investigated the epidemiology, severity, and treatment protocols of jellyfish stings in a coastal area with high tourist development and frequent stinging jellyfish outbreaks of the central Mediterranean (Salento, Southern Italy), and the associated costs for the Italian National Health Service. In 2007–2011, 1,733 bathers (mostly children and females) sought medical assistance following jellyfish stings, the main cause of human pathologies due to contact with marine organisms. The majority of events were reported in the years 2007–2009, whereas the occurrence of cnidarian jellyfish outbreaks has been increasingly reported in the same area since summer 2010. Most symptoms were limited to local and cutaneous reactions; conversely, 8.7% of cases evoked complications, mainly due to allergic reactions. The main drugs used were corticosteroids, locally applied and systemic (46% and 43%, respectively), and with ammonia (74%) as the main non-pharmacological treatment. The estimated cost of jellyfish-related first-aid services along the Salento coastline over the 5-year period was approximately 400,000 Euros. Therefore the management of jellyfish outbreak phenomena need coordinated research efforts towards a better understanding of underlying ecological mechanisms, together with the adoption of effective prevention policy, mitigation strategies, and appropriate planning of health services at tourist hot spots. MDPI 2014-02-27 2014-03 /pmc/articles/PMC3986988/ /pubmed/24583831 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph110302488 Text en © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article De Donno, Antonella Idolo, Adele Bagordo, Francesco Grassi, Tiziana Leomanni, Alessandro Serio, Francesca Guido, Marcello Canitano, Mariarita Zampardi, Serena Boero, Ferdinando Piraino, Stefano Impact of Stinging Jellyfish Proliferations along South Italian Coasts: Human Health Hazards, Treatment and Social Costs |
title | Impact of Stinging Jellyfish Proliferations along South Italian Coasts: Human Health Hazards, Treatment and Social Costs |
title_full | Impact of Stinging Jellyfish Proliferations along South Italian Coasts: Human Health Hazards, Treatment and Social Costs |
title_fullStr | Impact of Stinging Jellyfish Proliferations along South Italian Coasts: Human Health Hazards, Treatment and Social Costs |
title_full_unstemmed | Impact of Stinging Jellyfish Proliferations along South Italian Coasts: Human Health Hazards, Treatment and Social Costs |
title_short | Impact of Stinging Jellyfish Proliferations along South Italian Coasts: Human Health Hazards, Treatment and Social Costs |
title_sort | impact of stinging jellyfish proliferations along south italian coasts: human health hazards, treatment and social costs |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3986988/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24583831 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph110302488 |
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