The evaluation, management, and prevention of stingray injuries in travelers.

© 2008 International Society of Travel Medicine, 1195-1982 Journal of Travel Medicine, Volume 15, Issue 2, 2008, 102–109 A sharks may attack man without warning, stingrays are docile, usually nonaggressive, and do not attack man unless disturbed, by coastal waders or divers or caught or netted by fi shermen. Because stingrays are ubiquitous in all temperate and tropical oceans worldwide, and even occur in many tropical freshwater river systems, human stingray injuries are common but rarely fatal. In the United States alone, 750 to 2,000 stingray injuries are reported each year compared with more than 300 scorpionfi sh envenomings annually, many in home aquarists, and thousands of catfi sh-infl icted spine injuries, most of which are not reported. 1 – 6