SEA LICE: Florida's Summertime Stingers 

June 6, 2006 - Each year, millions of Florida's visitors and residents flock to her beaches to enjoy the natural beauty of the shoreline and refresh themselves with an invigorating dip in the ocean. The majority of sea bathers are content to swim along the shore, safe in the knowledge that the chance of an unpleasant encounter with a near sighted eel, stingray, or shark is quite remote. 

Each summer, however, as tourist season wanes and coastal water temperatures climb, a more primitive, passive predator lurks among the ocean swells, poised to unleash its toxic venom on unwary bathers. The ubiquitous culprit moves in schools numbering in the millions, yet when isolated it is barely visible to the human eye. Its initial attack is rarely noticed. Known for years to local residents as "sea lice", the creature's biological name is Linuche unquiculata. It is the larval stage of a tiny jellyfish whose size in adulthood is less than an inch. 

Known as "ocean itch" and "sea poisoning", in Spanish it is aptly named "pica-pica" meaning "itchy-itchy". In medical literature the condition is now known as "Sea Bather's Eruption". Not a parasite at all, "sea lice" is actually the spawn of a miniature jellyfish called the Thimble Jellyfish. A favorite bite size delicacy of sea turtles, Thimble Jellyfish predate the dinosaur by over 600 million years and are one of over 13,000 species of stinging marine organisms inhabiting the world's oceans. Their phylum Cnidarian also includes fire corals, sea anemones, and hydroids.

The term "sea lice" was inappropriately coined in the 1950's when the perpetrator of the mysterious chicken pox type rash was not yet known to the many swimmers it plagued during summer months along the coast of South Florida, although the dermatitis has been known among fisherman from the Caribbean Islands to Mexico least since the 1900's. While the adult stage of the Thimble jellyfish is harmless to most humans, tiny larval forms of the jellyfish have an affinity to the hair, bathing suits and body creases of unsuspecting swimmers.

Like grapes around a cluster, the larvae are protected by stinging cells, or nematocysts, which when triggered act like microscopic harpoons firing off toxins into the skin. Simple mechanical pressure (like friction from toweling off), and osmotic changes (like showering off in fresh water or evaporation as swimwear begins to dry) are enough to set off the reaction. Within twenty four hours a rash or hives begin to develop, accompanied by severe itching and occasionally fever.

The dermatitis usually resolves within one to two weeks and can be treated by some combination of antihistamines, anti-inflammatory and/or corticosteroid drugs. Check with your doctor if you think you have been inflicted, because the individual risk of immune responses varies from person to person. 

Dr. Peter Lamelas is an Emergency Medicine Physician and is the owner of MD Now Urgent Care Walk-In Medical Center insuburban Lake Worth. He was Medical Director of the Emergency Department of Columbia Hospital in West Palm Beach for 17 years. Residency trained in Internal Medicine and Board Certified in Emergency Medicine (ABPS), he is a long standing member of the American College of Emergency Physicians. In 2001, Dr. Lamelas received a gubernatorial appointment to serve on the State of Florida's Board of Medicine. In 1993 he earned his Masters Degree in Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University. He is on staff at five local hospitals, including Bethesda Memorial, Wellington Regional, St. Mary's Hospital and Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center. For more information visit http://www.MyMDNow.com.

Company Information:  MD Now Medical Centers, Inc. 

Lake Worth Urgent Care Location
4570 Lantana Road 
Lake Worth, FL 33463 
Main: 561-963-9881 

Royal Palm Beach Urgent Care Location
11551 Southern Blvd
Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411
Main: 561:798-9411

Boca Raton Urgent Care Location
7035 Beracasa Way
Boca Raton, FL 33433
(561)361-1515

Company Website: www.MyMDNow.com 
Email: info@mymdnow.com

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