Clinical Trial: Effective Treatments for Jellyfish Stings

Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Interventional

Official Title: Efficacy of Topical Agents in the Treatment of Chrysaora Chinensis Stings

Brief Summary:

The purpose of the study is to attempt to determine which treatment from commonly used treatments is the best at reducing pain and redness of the skin after a sting from a Portuguese Man of War, Chrysaora chinensis, or Chrysaora fuscescens.

Jellyfish stings are a common occurrence in many parts of the world causing significant morbidity to persons stung by jellyfish while participating in marine activities whether commercial or recreational. Much debate and confusion exist both in the medical literature and the common recommendations regarding how to treat persons stung by jellyfish. Specifically concerning what topical treatments are most efficacious at decreasing envenomation by nematocyst on skin, preventing the firing of un-discharged nematocyst, decreasing inflammation and pain resulting from envenomation by nematocyst. Antidotal recommendations and past studies have referenced numerous different topical treatments for jellyfish stings including but not limited to vinegar, urine, alcohol, distilled spirits, ammonia, bleach, acetone, bicarbonate slurry, lidocaine, meat tenderizer, Coca Cola, old wine, salt water, cold packs, hot water, and commercial products such as Stingose and Stingaid. Conflicting data exists regarding what works and what does not for nematocysts discharge, skin erythema, and pain reaction.

The investigators would like to investigate which treatment is best out of some of the more commonly studied treatments for reducing pain and erythema.

The investigators would like to complete a research study to try to bring some reasonable evidence to the field treatment of jellyfish stings, namely, the decontamination process (e.g., what can you put on a jellyfish sting that will be helpful, based on real data?).

  • Mean Change in Pain in the Treated Human Arm (Not Placebo) From Baseline Determined by Measures (17) Taken Over 24 Hours [ Time Frame: 24 hours ]
    Pain is measured on a scale of 1-10 with 0 being no pain and 10 being worse pain ever felt. Baseline pain will be measured immediately after being stung for 2 minutes without any treatment. Subsequent pain felt at every 2 minutes for 30 minutes, at 1 hour post sting, and at 24 hours post sting will be based on changes from the original baseline pain. Mean change is defined as the mean change in pain from all time points measured from each participant and then averaged for each group. The control arm (placebo) was collected and analyzed in parallel to the treatment arm. The "mean change" for the treatment arm was then compared with the "mean change" for the control arm as a baseline. Hence, the data presented are the estimated effect for each treatment group compared to the control arms for each group.
  • Mean Change in Erythema (Redness) in the Treated Human Arm (Not Placebo) From Baseline Determined by Measures (3) Taken Over 24 Hours [ Time Frame: 30 minutes, 1 hour, and 24 hours ]
    Visual inspection of sting sites will be done at 30 minutes post sting (after treatment completed), 1 hour post sting, and 24 hours post sting. Erythema Index (EI) imeasures increase in cutaneous vasodilation. A computer-measured (Image-J software) EI was used to remove subjectivity. A numeric score was created for the level of erythema, with "0" representing baseline erythema on the control arm. Any positive number indicates more and negative number less erythema on treatment arm compared to placebo. EI values were measured on a "scale" from -20 to +20 with "0&quo

    Original Primary Outcome:

    • Pain [ Time Frame: 24 hours ]

      Subject will be asked to provide level of pain on a predetermined pain scale every 2 minutes while being treated for the jellyfish sting (total of 30 minutes). Pain will again be reassessed on the same pain scale at 1 hour post sting and at 24 hours post sting.

      Pain is measured on a scale of 1-10 with 0 being no pain and 10 being worse pain ever felt. Baseline pain will be measured immediately after being stung for 2 minutes without any treatment. Subsequent pain felt at every 2 minutes for 30 minutes, at 1 hour post sting, and at 24 hours post sting will be based on changes from the original baseline pain.

    • Erythema [ Time Frame: 30 minutes, 1 hour, and 24 hours ]
      Visual inspection of the sting sites on both arms will be done at 30 minutes post sting (after treatment is completed), 1 hours post sting, and 24 hour post sting.


    Current Secondary Outcome:

    Original Secondary Outcome:

    Information By: Stanford University

    Dates:
    Date Received: December 4, 2013
    Date Started: June 2013
    Date Completion:
    Last Updated: April 10, 2015
    Last Verified: April 2015