A 10-year-old girl stung by the world's most venomous creature - the deadly box jellyfish - may have rewritten medical history, an expert has said.
Rachael and her badly scarred leg. (Pic: ABC
News)
Australian Rachael Shardlow lost consciousness after being badly stung by the jellyfish while swimming in a river in eastern Queensland state with her brother in December.
Zoology professor Jamie Seymour, from James Cook University, told broadcaster ABC: "When I first saw the pictures of the injuries I just went, 'You know, to be honest, this kid should not be alive.'
"I mean, they are horrific. Usually when you see people who have been stung by box jellyfish with that number of the tentacle contacts on their body, it's usually in a morgue."
I don't know of anybody... where someone has had such an extensive sting that has survived.Zoology professor Jamie Seymour
The venom is so overpoweringly painful that victims often go into shock and drown or die of heart failure before reaching shore.
A box jellyfish
Rachael was pulled from the Calliope River, near the town of Gladstone, by her 13-year-old brother with the jellyfish's tentacles still wrapped around her legs.
Before passing out, she told him she could not see or breathe.
After the rescue, she spent six weeks recovering in hospital before returning home.
Prof Seymour said: "I don't know of anybody in the entire literature where we've studied this where someone has had such an extensive sting that has survived.
"From our point of view, it's really useful information that you very seldom, if ever, get your hands on."
View Box Jellyfish Attack in a larger map
The girl's father Geoff Shardlow told ABC News that his daughter had suffered scarring to her legs and some short-term memory loss.
He said: "We've noticed a small amount of short-term memory loss, like riding a pushbike to school and forgetting she's taken a pushbike.
"The greatest fear was actual brain damage (but) her cognitive skills and memory tests were all fine."