mrmoshe Posted November 6, 2006 Posted November 6, 2006 Jellyfish venom 'may become medicine' Scientists will investigate whether toxins from several species of deadly jellyfish may be useful in treating heart complications. Jellyfish expert Dr Jamie Seymour said a world-first study would attempt to extract various compounds from the venom of the box and irukandji jellyfish, which could be used for human medication. Dr Seymour, from James Cook University in Cairns, said it was possible a non-addictive painkiller could be extracted from jellyfish venom similar to one which had been found in the cone snail. "It is likely that novel toxins will be found that may be useful as pharmacological tools or even for treatment as drugs," Dr Seymour said. "In fact (in) some of the initial results ... we've isolated a compound from the box jellyfish venom which actually kills bacteria that's resistant to a lot of the medications presently used." It was still unknown exactly what type of ailments jellyfish venom could treat. "But given that the venom is predominantly a heart venom, so it kills the heart, it wouldn't surprise me if there's compounds in there that we can use for various heart complications," Dr Seymour said. Dr Seymour will carry out the study with three other scientists as part of a grant of $280,000 over three years from National Health and Medical Research Council. Dr Seymour said the money would also help investigate treatment strategies for box and irukandji jellyfish stings. He said little was known about jellyfish toxins and how they worked in the human body. "We have a small understanding of what's going on but certainly for things like big box jellyfish, how the venoms operate and why they work, it's very hard to work it out in humans because people die so quickly," he said. Dr Seymour said a large box jellyfish could kill its victim within minutes by inducing cardiac arrest. He said up to 150 people were stung each year in Australia by jellyfish, threatening Australia's image as a safe tourism destination. "From November through to May everybody's forced to swim inside nets on the coasts. That changes the entire way the beach is used up here," Dr Seymour said. Associate Professor Wayne Hodgson, a Melbourne-based toxinology researcher; Dr Geoffrey Isbister, clinical toxicologist at the Mater Hospital in Newcastle and Associate Prof Graham Nicholson, from Sydney's University of Technology, will also participate in the study.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now