In Australia, a paramedic from Germany was stung by the world’s most poisonous fish – the stonefish – and managed to survive.
This was announced by ABC Australia.
German Kasper Krupa, aged 26, decided to go swimming with his girlfriend at a popular local beach near the town of Karratha. Swimming in waist-deep water, the man lowered his hand to the bottom and suddenly felt as if something had bitten him. According to Krupa, he immediately pulled his bleeding hand out of the water and intense pain began to spread through his body. “It felt like an elephant had hit me in the heart,” the victim described the sting.
Krupa immediately went ashore and hurried to the hospital by car, forgetting his phone in the sand. He had to drive alone because his girlfriend was just learning to drive. The friend managed to help him though: he couldn’t move his left hand, so she changed the gears for him. That’s how they reached their destination. At the hospital, Kasper was injected with painkillers and his hand was dipped in hot vinegar water to remove the poison from it. At first, the doctors acted as if the man had been attacked by a snake. Only after they did a blood test did they realize that he had been stung by a stonefish. Doctors stabilized Kruppa’s condition and discharged him the next day.
The stonefish is a predatory marine fish with 13 spines, each capable of injecting a highly toxic poison. Due to its appearance, it successfully camouflages itself among rocks, usually hiding near coral reefs and dark algae. Its venom not only causes extreme pain, but can also lead to paralysis and necrosis. There is an antidote against the sting of the stonefish, but tourists are urged to be careful on the beaches of the countries where it is found. These are Thailand, Egypt and Australia.
