Venom; Natures killer
Although people may think that venom is deadly and can only kill people that is completely wrong. Yes, it’s true. Venoms are indeed very deadly, and some, like the box jellyfish, can kill in minutes. The venom attacks key elements in our body, like the brain cells, it paralyzes muscles, and can even digest you from the inside! But that’s not the only use for venom. The toxins in venom are proteins, but instead are mutated and tell the cells to do the things opposite to what our bodies need.
The deadly toxins can be con-verted, with a lot of hard work and experimenting, into a life saving medicine. They can help save patients suffering from diabetes, brain cancer, strokes, and heart failures. But what is sad is that people are killing the environments that the animals that have venom live in, without even thinking that they could save our lives. There are over 20 million different types of toxins in the world, but only a few hundred have been studied, and only 12 have been approved as a medicine. Throughout evolution, animals have been develop-ing their venoms to be as most effective as possible, and clearly that has worked; over 100,000 people have been killed from venomous attacks per year! The smaller, more fragile animals tend to use venom because in order to compete with the tougher, larger predators, they need to have their own attack that can kill without much force. One of the worst countries in reference to venomous snakes is Vietnam.
There are over 200 types of snakes there, and over 25% are venomous. Certain types of snakes can even take down a full-grown elephant! There are 2,800 different types of snakes. For every one person that dies from snakebite, around 350 people are being treated with snake venom. The snake with the most sophisticated type of delivery into the system is a viper, which spreads through the body targeting red blood cells and nerves. Another dangerous snake, the co-bra, can cause convulsions or paralysis. As soon as the toxin reaches the diaphragm, the victim starts to suffocate from the lack of muscle movement, although it can take weeks for a patient to either die or recover from the attack.
Sometimes, the patient doesn’t even get the chance to get the anti-venom and recover because anti-venom is extremely expen-sive and some people just can’t afford it. A common symptom of a patient failing to re-cover is drooping eyes and an inability to keep your eyes open. Sometimes, the venom can even skip the nerves and go straight to the blood. Another toxic friend, the spider, is very abundant. There are over 42,000 types of spiders, and although nearly all of them are venomous, only a few pose a threat to humans because the spiders lack fangs big enough to penetrate beyond our epidermis. Of those few who pose a threat, the black widow is one of the deadliest, and can easily take down a full-grown man.
One of the most underrated of the venomous creatures, the jellyfish, pack the biggest punch out of all the venomous creatures of the earth. The box jellyfish has 60 tentacles, each reaching 15 feet long, with 5,000 stinging cells on each, enough venom to kill 60 humans! If one of those nasty tentacles touches your skin, it starts a chain reaction that leads up to shut-ting down your heart and it is excruciatingly painful. This is the fastest acting venom in the world, taking effect in just seconds. Another venomous creature, although pretty much unheard of, is the cone snail. Its venom is so toxic, that researches put it in the same category as a nuclear bomb! So clearly, if this stings you, it will hard to find your-self awake afterward.
The way it injects its victims is that it has a tiny “harpoon” gun that shoots a mini harpoon in to the victim, releasing the venom and attaching a string to the prey so it doesn’t float away. This venom is considered,” Medical gold” because of how hard it is to come by. As venom, it is clearly deadly, but as a medicine, it can prevent memory loss for Asperger patients. All in all, venom is thought to be a bad thing, and al-though it usually is, it can also save lives through the use of medicine.
