Friday, January 18, 2008

Vol 2:3 Question






Environmental
An 18-year-old man presents to the Emergency Department with right leg pain and swelling after swimming at a local beach. He reports swimming in the ocean, whereupon he felt a sharp sting in his right leg. Upon physical examination, there is no gross deformity of the right lower extremity and there is a palpable dorsalis pedis and posterior tibial pulse. There is tenderness to palpation over the lateral calf where many punctuate, erythematous lesions as seen below. You suspect he was stung by a jellyfish. Which of the following is the most appropriate treatment of choice for this patient?
a. Fresh water
b. Vegetable oil
c. Vinegar
d. Toothpaste
e. Household window cleaner

Please submit your answer in the "comment" section. The person with the most correct entries at the end of six weeks will receive a copy of the book PreTest Emergency Medicine.

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quizzER is a weekly contest consisting of a question selected from various areas of emergency medicine that are central to the education of medical students and residents in training. For more information please refer to the following link.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

c. vinegar

Patrick said...

Answer: C

NPG said...

C. Vinegar

WongML said...

Vinegar

ArkieRN said...

C. vinegar

cotrimaxazol said...

c. Vinegar

The T-Dude said...

White vinegar will inactivate undischarged nematocysts and the toxin so that is my choice.

Do not use fresh water, that will make things worse, not better.

Anonymous said...

The correct answer is: c - vinegar

The acetic acid in the vinegar deactivates any remaining nematosysts, allowing them to be removed without causing any further discharges into the skin.

HicksterAZ said...

C. Vinegar

AtYourCervix said...

C. Vinegar

prnpenguin said...

Painful memories from Christmas holidays at the beach gives me the answer. Hopefully I was doing the right thing all those years ago.

Answer:
c. Vinegar

I think that normal saline is OK too. Tap water hurt like buggery and I'd avoid the Windex - it's only for windows or for getting rid of zits...