A primary school-aged girl has become the fifth child airlifted to hospital from Fraser Island with suspected Irukandji jellyfish stings in the past fortnight.
The girl was swimming in the ocean near a popular creek at K’gari when she was stung on her lower back and leg.
Her parents used vinegar and water on the stings before the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter landed on a beach on the western side of the island about 6.30pm on Saturday.
The Bundaberg-based chopper flew the girl in a stable condition to Hervey Bay Hospital for treatment.
She is the fifth child the chopper has airlifted from K’gari with suspected Irukandji jellyfish stings these school holidays, with three young girls also hospitalised on December 27.
The trio included two sisters, aged five and nine, who were playing in a creek on the western side of the island when they were stung.
They were airlifted to Hervey Bay Hospital in a stable condition, as was the third girl who was stung on the chest by an Irukandji jellyfish in the same creek just an hour before.
The next day, a boy was stung on the leg – also while swimming in the creek.
The LifeFlight rescue chopper again landed on the beach where the boy was with his family and other tourists.
He was flown to Hervey Bay Hospital in a stable condition.
The Irukandji jellyfish is a small, extremely venomous species of box jellyfish about two centimetres in diameter, making it difficult to notice in the water.
Symptoms of being stung include shooting pains in the muscles, chest and abdomen; nausea; vomiting and breathing difficulties.
Another four people were taken to the hospital from K’gari on Sunday, one via rescue chopper, after a vehicle rollover about 7.45am near Dilli Village.
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