In 1961, Jack Handyside Barnes, his nine year-old son, and a local surf lifesaver were rushed to Cairns Base Hospital after developing Irukandji syndrome.
John (Jack) Handyside Barnes (1922-1985) was an Australian medical practitioner and toxinologist. 1964 the first specimens of the small stinger Carukia barnesi (Irukandji)
Irukandji syndrome is a distressing envenoming secondary to the sting of Carukia barnesi and other, as yet unidentified, jellyfish found in coastal waters of tropical Australia.
You are working as a locum doctor in the Northern Territory. Your patient is a 32 year-old Indonesian man who says he was stung while hauling in a net on an offshore fishing vessel.
It's Christmas, and you're called by a doctor who has recently arrived in Australia from the UK. He is in North Queensland looking after a 23 year-old female swimmer who doesn't look at all well...