Mystery jellyfish sting sees teen rushed to Hervey Bay Hospital

A teen has been rushed to hospital after a mystery jellyfish sting in Hervey Bay.

Dundowran Beach.

A teenage boy has been taken to hospital after being stung by a jellyfish in Hervey Bay.

But a spokeswoman from the Queensland Ambulance Service said there was no indication whether the jellyfish involved was an irukandji, which were suspected to be behind a spate of jellyfish stings on Fraser Island last month.

The boy was stung on Dundowran Beach about 4.46pm on Thursday.

He was taken to Hervey Bay Hospital in a stable condition.

Five children were flown off Fraser Island last month after suspected stings from the deadly jellyfish.

In the aftermath of the incidents, Professor Jamie Seymour from the Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine Cairns said more research needed to be done into the spread of the animals.

With more Irukandji now being found in waters along the southern Queensland coast, he called for more funding to be provided by the State Government.

“I mean, we would drop everything tomorrow and come down and work ourselves stupid down there if we could find research funding to do it,” he told the Chronicle.

“But we can’t. As a result, nothing happens.”

Mr Seymour fears it will take a tragedy to change things.

“I hope that nobody ever gets in a situation where they are in a life-threatening position from an Irukandji sting, but I have to say that it is going to happen at some stage down there.”