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An antidote has been discovered for the most venomous creature in the world, the Australian jellyfish.
Researchers at the University of Sydney have found an antidote to the jellyfish sting – which contains enough venom to kill more than 60 people.
A single sting of the creature will cause excruciating pain and necrosis of the skin and, if the dose of venom is high enough, cardiac arrest and death in just a few minutes.
Using the genome, researchers at the University's Charles Perkins Center have discovered a "molecular antidote" that blocks the symptoms of a canned jellyfish sting if applied to the skin in less than 15 minutes.
The researchers took millions of human cells and neutralized a different human gene in each of them, before adding jellyfish venom and looking for cells that survived the process.
"This is the first molecular dissection of the functioning of this type of venom and possibly that of any venom," said Raymond Lau, lead author of the study.
The researchers believe that the drug – which is already available and safe for humans – will completely stop necrosis, skin scarring and pain when applied to the skin, but Additional research is needed to find out if he will stop a heart attack.
The antidote has been shown to act on human cells external to the body before being tested successfully on live mice. Scientists now want to develop a topical application for humans.
The results were published in Nature Communications.
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