A commonly prescribed blood thinner—heparin—can be repurposed as an inexpensive and effective antidote for cobra venom.
Worldwide, nearly 18 lakh people are bitten by snakes each year. Of those, about 1.38 lakh people die, mainly in poorer rural areas in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, south and southeast Asia. About four lakh more develop necrosis, the death of body tissue and cells around the snake bite, which can lead to amputation.
Current treatments are expensive and are not effective against necrosis. A team of researchers from Australia, Canada, Costa Rica and the UK used CRISPR gene-editing technology to identify ways to block cobra venom and successfully repurposed heparin to stop the necrosis. “Our discovery could drastically reduce the terrible injuries from necrosis caused by cobra bites. It might also slow the venom, which could improve survival rates,” said the study, published in Science Translational Medicine.
