Envenomation

Envenomation
SpecialtyToxicology

Envenomation is the process by which venom is injected by the bite or sting of a venomous animal.[1]

Many kinds of animals, including mammals (e.g., the northern short-tailed shrew, Blarina brevicauda), reptiles (e.g., the king cobra),[2] spiders (e.g., black widows),[3] insects (e.g., wasps), and fish (e.g., stone fish) employ venom for hunting and for self-defense.

A droplet of venom on the stinger of a wasp

In particular, snakebite envenoming is considered a neglected tropical disease resulting in >100,000 deaths and maiming >400,000 people per year.[4]

  1. ^ WEINSTEIN, SCOTT A.; DART, RICHARD C.; et al. (15 October 2009). "Envenomations: An Overview of Clinical Toxinology for the Primary Care Physician". American Family Physician. 80 (8): 793–802. PMID 19835341.
  2. ^ Maduwage, Kalana; O'Leary, Margaret A.; Isbister, Geoffrey K. (2014). "Diagnosis of snake envenomation using a simple phospholipase A2 assay". Scientific Reports. 4: 4827. Bibcode:2014NatSR...4E4827M. doi:10.1038/srep04827. PMC 4003729. PMID 24777205.
  3. ^ GRAUDINS, A., M. J. LITTLE, S. S. PINEDA, P. G. HAINS, G. F. KING et al., 2012 Cloning and activity of a novel α-latrotoxin from red-back spider venom. Biochemical Pharmacology 83: 170–183.
  4. ^ Gutiérrez, José María; Calvete, Juan J.; Habib, Abdulrazaq G.; Harrison, Robert A.; Williams, David J.; Warrell, David A. (2017-09-14). "Snakebite envenoming". Nature Reviews Disease Primers. 3 (1): 17063. doi:10.1038/nrdp.2017.63. ISSN 2056-676X. PMID 28905944. S2CID 4916503.