Zinc may treat box jellyfish stings

摘要

A zinc compound sometimes taken to treat the common cold might have a second career as emergency treatment for anyone unlucky enough to get stung by an Australian box jellyfish. Boxjellyfish (Chironexfleckeri), which roam the seas off northern Australia, deliver some of nature's most potent venom. Researchers have proposed that the venom attacks heart muscle cells, which would explain why sting victims sometimes suffer cardiac arrest. But in a study published online December 12 in PLOS ONE, Angel Yanagihara and RalphShohet of the University of Hawaii report that pores form in red blood cells exposed to the box jellyfish's venom.