Unilateral orbital inflammation in a child after a jellyfish sting to the lower extremities.

A 3-year 10-month-old child initially developed locally recurrent cutaneous eruptions within the first 2 weeks after sustaining a jellyfish sting to her lower extremities. After 5 asymptomatic weeks, she developed unilateral orbital inflammation that did not respond to systemic antibiotics, antihistamines, or steroids. Imaging revealed a rapidly growing mass of the right lacrimal gland. Urgent anterior orbitotomy was performed and the lacrimal gland was biopsied. Histopathologic diagnosis revealed sclerosing dacryodenitis consistent with orbital inflammatory syndrome and/or an immune response to an antigen challenge.

Prolonged urinary incontinence and biliary dyskinesia following abdominal contact with jellyfish tentacles.

A 16-year-old girl was seriously stung on her abdomen by a jellyfish as she jumped on her small surfboard. She and her mother identified the animal from photographs as Chrysaora fuscescens. Within several minutes the girl developed a massive abdominal cutaneous eruption composed of hundreds of punctuate erythematous papules and macules, which persisted for 5 to 7 days. Persistent urinary incontinence and biliary dyskinesia appeared over the following night. It is theorized that a systemic uptake of venom occurred percutaneously after contact of the jellyfish tentacles with her abdominal skin. The result was an injury to the urinary and biliary bladders. This is the first case report of such sequellae after topical contact with a marine animal. The causal relationship of these abnormalities with the sting is suggested by their temporal association. The gallbladder disorder required surgical intervention, but spontaneous resolution of the urinary bladder dysfunction occurred within 20 months.

Toxicity and mAChRs binding activity of Cassiopea xamachana venom from Puerto Rican coasts.

A separation of toxic components from the upside down jellyfish Cassiopea xamachana (Cx) was carried out to study their cytotoxic effects and examine whether these effects are combined with a binding activity to cell membrane receptors. Nematocysts containing toxins were isolated from the autolysed tentacles, ruptured by sonication, and the crude venom (CxTX) was separated from the pellets by ultracentrifugation. For identifying its bioactive components, CxTX was fractionated by gel filtration chromatography into six fractions (named fraction I-VI). The toxicity of CxTX and fractions was tested on mice; however, the hemolytic activity was tested on saline washed human erythrocytes. The LD50 of CxTX was 0.75 microg/g of mouse body and for fraction III, IV and VI were 0.28, 0.25 and 0.12 microg/g, respectively. Fractions I, II and V were not lethal at doses equivalent to LD50 1 microg/g. The hemolytic and phospholipase A2 (PLA2) activities of most fractions were well correlated with their mice toxicity. However, fraction VI, which contains the low molecular mass protein components (< or =10 kDa), has shown no PLA2 activity but highest toxicity to mice, highest hemolytic activity, and bound significantly to the acetylcholine muscarinic receptors (mAChRs) isolated from rat brain. The results suggested that fraction VI contains proteinaceous components contributing to most of cytolysis as well as membrane binding events. Meanwhile, fraction IV has shown high PLA2 that may contribute to the venom lethality and paralytic effects.