http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-06-27/australian-scientists-in-snakebite-ointment/2772856
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v17/n7/full/nm.2382.html
Treating snakebite
Nature Medicine pp 809 - 811
A drug that interferes with the pumping action of lymphatic vessels could be useful for treating snakebite, reports a study published online this week in Nature Medicine. By delaying transit of the snakebite toxin through the lymphatic system, this drug could give snakebite victims more time to obtain medical care.
Each year, snakebite accounts for 100,000 deaths and 400,000 amputations worldwide. Many snake venoms contain large toxin molecules that can gain access to the blood only by being transported from the site of the bite through lymphatic vessels.
Dirk van Helden and his colleagues found that an ointment containing glyceryl trinitrate, which is used for the treatment of heart failure, slowed down transport of a radiolabeled tracer within the lymphatic system of human volunteers by an average of about an hour. The fatal effects of snake venom were delayed by about half-an-hour when the scientists injected rats in their hind feet with venom and then applied the glyceryl trinitrate ointment.
A pharmacological approach to first aid treatment for snakebite - pp809 - 811
Megan E Saul, Paul A Thomas, Peter J Dosen, Geoffrey K Isbister, Margaret A O'Leary, Ian M Whyte, Sally A McFadden & Dirk F van Helden
Published online 26 June 2011 | doi 10.1038/nm.2382
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