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Posted By: Katie Valk Placencia. Man O War issue - 07/24/14 04:20 PM
This is a temporary situation but always impressed with tourism entities who forewarn at the risk of losing visitors.

The Southern Environmental Association has verified the sightings of man-o-wars along the beach in Placencia Village and will be issuing an advisory on social media networks.

Sting Treatment:
Stings from a Portuguese man o' war may result in a severe dermatitis. The Portuguese man o' war is often confused with jellyfish, which may lead to improper treatment of stings, as the venom differs from that of true jellyfish. Treatment for a Portuguese man o' war sting includes:
o avoiding further contact with the Portuguese man o' war and carefully removing remnants of the organism from the skin (taking care not to touch them directly with fingers or any other part of the skin to avoid secondary stinging)
o apply salt water to the affected area (not fresh water, which tends to make the affected area worse)
o follow up with the application of hot water (45 °C/113 °F) to the affected area from 15 to 20 minutes, which eases the pain of a sting by denaturing the toxins.
o if eyes have been affected, irrigate with copious amounts of room-temperature tap water for at least 15 minutes, and if vision blurs or the eyes continue to tear, hurt, swell, or show light sensitivity after irrigating, or there is any concern, seek medical attention as soon as possible
o Vinegar is not recommended for treating stings. Vinegar dousing increases toxin delivery and worsens symptoms of stings from the nematocysts of this species. Vinegar has also been confirmed to provoke hemorrhaging when used on the less severe stings of nematocysts of smaller species.
> On 7/23/2014 11:38:04 AM, Placencia BTIA ([email protected]) wrote:
> > The Placencia Village Council has issued a swimming advisory for Placencia
> Village today.
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>
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> The advisory is due to an increase of man-o-war sightings on the beach.
> Please note that even dead man-o-wars washed up on shore can sting.
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> For more info on the man-o-war, visit:
> http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/portuguese-man-o
> f-war/
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> Placencia Tourism Center
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> Headquarters for the Placencia Chapter of the
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> Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA)
Posted By: ScubaLdy Re: Placencia. Man O War issue - 07/24/14 06:34 PM
We have seen a few off shore here north of the bridge.
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