Sea Anemone Sting ( 2 фото )

A previously healthy 28-year-old woman presented to the outpatient clinic with a painful rash on her right thigh. Five days before presentation, she had been walking on sea rocks on an island in the Cyclades region of Greece — an area of the Mediterranean known to have a large population of sea anemones — when she fell, landing on her buttocks. She immediately felt a severe pain in her right thigh, and an itchy, red lesion developed. She did not see what had stung her. She cleaned the skin with seawater and applied an emollient cream. On physical examination at the current presentation, innumerable fine, erythematous, linear lesions in a stellate distribution with central clearing on the posterior right thigh were seen. A diagnosis of sea anemone sting was made. Skin exposure to sea anemone venom leads to local inflammation at the site of the wound. Treatment with a topical glucocorticoid and emollient cream was provided. At a follow-up visit at 3 months, the skin showed only mild residual hyperpigmentation.
Weniko Caré, M.D. , and Raphaële Mestiri, M.D.Author Info & Affiliations
Published May 7, 2025
N Engl J Med 2025;392: e43
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMicm2416009
VOL. 392 NO. 18