A REPORT OF SEVERAL CASES WITH UNUSUAL SYMPTOMS 



CAUSED BY CONTACT WITH SOME UNKNOWN VARIETY 



OF JELLYFISH (SCYPHOZOA). 1 



By Edward H. H. Old.- 



The cases reported under this title were observed during the summer 

 months of 1906 and 1907. Two were reported from Olongapo; the 

 others occurred in the waters of Canacao Bay, an offshoot of Manila Bay 

 lying between Cavite and the peninsula opposite, on which is located the 

 United States Naval Hospital. 



The first case was seen in 1900 and the account which the patient gave 

 of his symptoms after having been stung by the jellyfish seemed so 

 exaggerated that it was not seriously considered at the time and his 

 actions and complaints were looked upon merely as a marked hysterical 

 attack following an ordinary sting from one of these fish. Not until 

 other cases were observed in 1907, were such symptoms following the 

 sting of a jellyfish looked upon as possibly something peculiar to these 

 waters. 



Notes were made on the cases as they were observed. These notes 

 showed a regular symptom complex, and those cases noted independently 

 by medical officers stationed at Cavite and Olongapo go to prove that 

 the symptoms were not accidental. 



Case 1. — In August, 1906, a call was received at the hospital stating that a 

 man, who had been in swimming oft' Sangley Point, had been stung by a jellyfish 

 and was very sick. 



A friend who was with him at the time said that the patient, when lie came 

 out of the water shortly after he had been stung, complained of pain over his 

 thigh, and soon afterward of pain elsewhere; then he became prostrated and began 

 to vomit, to cough, and to breathe rapidly. On admission to the hospital, an area 

 of erythema slightly raised and streaked and about the size of the palm of 

 the hand was seen on his right thigh; vomiting had ceased, but his respirations 

 were much increased and lie continued' to cough almost incessantly. The cough 

 was short and hacking in character as if a foreign body had lodged in the larynx, 

 and a thin, mucoid sputum was expectorated. His face was congested and anxious 

 in expression and lie wept at intervals. He threw himself constantly about on 



1 Read at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Philippine Islands Medical. Associa- 

 tion, February 28, 190S. 



2 Assistant surgeon, United States Navy. 



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