Stingray injury

Stingray injury
Treatment of an injury in a life guard tower, with hot water
Specialty	Emergency medicine
Deaths	Steve Irwin

A stingray injury is caused by the venomous tail spines, stingers or dermal denticles of rays in the order Myliobatiformes, most significantly those belonging to the families Dasyatidae, Urotrygonidae, Urolophidae, and Potamotrygonidae. Stingrays generally do not attack aggressively or even actively defend themselves. When threatened, their primary reaction is to swim away. However, when attacked by predators or stepped on, the stinger in their tail is whipped up. This is normally ineffective against sharks, their main predator.^{[1][unreliable source?]}

Depending on the size of the stingray, humans are usually stung in the lower limb region.^[2] Stings usually occur when swimmers or divers accidentally step on a stingray,^[3] but a human is less likely to be stung by simply brushing against the stinger. Those who enter waters with large populations of stingrays are advised to slide their feet through the sand rather than taking normal steps, as the rays detect the vibrations in the sand and swim away.^[4][5]

There are reports of stingers breaking off in wounds, but this may be rare.^{[weasel words][6]} This would not be fatal to the stingray as it will be regrown at a rate of about 1.25 to 2 centimetres (0.49 to 0.79 in) per month (though with significant variations depending on the size of the stingray and the exact species). ^{[citation needed]} Contact with the stinger causes local trauma (from the cut itself), pain, swelling, and muscle cramps from the venom, and possible later infection from bacteria^[3] or fungi.^[7]

Immediate injuries to humans include envenomation, punctures, severed arteries and veins, and rarely death.^[8][9][10]

Fatal stings are very rare;^[3] the most famous case is when Australian wildlife expert Steve Irwin died in 2006, which was only the second case recorded in Australia since 1945.^[11] In Irwin's case, the stinger penetrated his thoracic wall, causing massive trauma.^[12]