FATHER AND SON TRANSPORTED TO HOSPITAL DUE TO PORTUGUESE CARAVEL STINGS

Tobi Hughes·
News Blog

The Volunteer Firefighters of Câmara de Lobos rescued two victims of Portuguese caravel stings at the end of this Monday afternoon.

The victims, father and son, suffered burns of this species, which is hitting the coast in greater quantities than usual, when they were on the beach of Vigário, in Câmara de Lobos.

The corporation helped the victims at the scene at 6 pm and transported them to the Dr. Nélio Mendonça Hospital.

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Tobi Hughes

6 Responses

  1. There have been plenty of warnings of them being in Madeira waters of late ?

  2. Is this a normal problem? I haven’t heard much about Caravelas in Madeira until this year.

    1. They are nomal this time of year, I have always seen large ammounts in May or early June since my childhood. This is cyclic, in a few days or week they will be gone and come back next year. But there are more people in beaches nowadays and everyone is recording it. When I was a kid a close call with one of these and a bite was not on the news…

  3. I dont understand the hysteria over these things. In Australia we call them “Blue Bottles” and they’re literally on all our beaches at various times and very common and not seen as a big deal. I don’t understand the hysteria over these or if it’s just this website making them seem like such a big deal. I guess when you don’t have any poisonous insects or animals on the Island like we do in Australia, you make a big deal about a jelly fish sting. As a Portuguese Australian who has lived around these things my whole life on Aussie beaches, I can’t help but say, toughen up Madeirenses.

    1. You are correct, and this is not a problem for most Madeirenses, they will swim anyway after checking if there are some nearby. Sometimes small “incidents” like the one reported here occur. But not really “news”. Looking at the other side, Portuguese man o´war are an excellent evidence of biodiversity and clean sea water. They are a good meal for turtles.

  4. I am no expert, and have no experience of this, but resorted to Wikipedia on this topic.
    Extract of content is below……..

    The Portuguese man o’ war (Physalia physalis), also known as the man-of-war, or blue bottle is a marine hydrozoan found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.

    Stings usually cause severe pain to humans, leaving whip-like, red welts on the skin that normally last two or three days after the initial sting, though the pain should subside after about 1 to 3 hours (depending on the biology of the person stung). However, the venom can travel to the lymph nodes and may cause symptoms that mimic an allergic reaction including swelling of the larynx, airway blockage, cardiac distress, and an inability to breathe (though this is not due to a true allergy, which is defined by serum IgE). Other symptoms can include fever and shock, and in some extreme cases, even death, although this is extremely rare. Medical attention for those exposed to large numbers of tentacles may become necessary to relieve pain or open airways if the pain becomes excruciating or lasts for more than three hours, or breathing becomes difficult. Instances where the stings completely surround the trunk of a young child are among those that have the potential to be fatal.

    The whole thing can be read at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_man_o%27_war

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