Cutaneous light microscopic and ultrastructural changes in a fatal case of jellyfish envenomation

A 5-year-old male suffered fatal envenomation from a jellyfish subsequently identified as Chironex fleckeri. Contact with the tentacles of the jellyfish had produced characteristic whiplash-like weals on the skin. At autopsy, skin from these areas was taken and later studied by light microscopy and electron microscopy. Both studies identified numerous nematocysts penetrating the epidermis and papillary dermis in the region of the sting.