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Cobra venom neutralised by common blood-thinning drug Heparin
Heparin can neutralise the necrosis-causing toxins in some spitting cobras' venom, scientists discover.
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A drug commonly prescribed to thin blood can be repurposed as a cheap antidote to cobra venom, a team of scientists based in Australia, Canada, Costa Rica and the UK has discovered.
Snakebites kill about 138,000 people a year, mostly in poorer rural areas in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, South and South East Asia.
More than 400,000 others develop necrosis when the tissue around the bite dies and turns black.
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