Introduction: Jellyfish stings are the most frequently reported marine animal envenomation worldwide. However, data on jellyfish sting from Malaysia remains obscure due to inadequate research. Methods: We investigated the epidemiology, clinical features and treatment of patients presenting at the emergency department of Langkawi Hospital between January 2012 and December 2014. Secondary data on the nature of the incident, patient demographics, clinical presentation, and treatment were retrieved from the patients’ medical records. Descriptive statistics were presented for all patient variables. Results: A total of 759 patients presented with jellyfish stings during the 3-year study period, with highest number of visits in July, October, November, and December. The mean patient age was 26.7 years (SD: 12.14), 59.4% were men, 68.1% were foreigners or international tourists, and 40.4% were stung between 12.00 p.m. and 6:59 p.m. At least 90 patients presented with mild Irukandji or Irukandji-like syndromes. Most of the jellyfish stings occurred at Chenang Beach (590 reported cases), followed by Tengah Beach and Kok Beach. Most patients were treated symptomatically, and no deaths following a jellyfish sting was reported during the study period. Conclusion: There is a need for public health interventions for both local and international tourists who visit Langkawi Island. Preventive steps and education on initial treatment at the incident site could elevate public awareness and decrease the adverse effects of jellyfish stings.
Cnidaria ; Cnidarian Venoms

BACKGROUND: Bee venom (BV) has been widely investigated for potential medical uses. Recent inadvertent uses of BV based products have shown to mitigate signs of fungal infections. However, the component mediating the antifungal effect has not been identified. OBJECTIVE: This investigation compares bee venom in its whole and partial forms to evaluate the possible component responsible for the antifungal effect. METHODS: Forty-eight plates inoculated with Trichophyton rubrum were allocated into four groups. The groups were treated with raw BV (RBV), melittin, apamin and BV based mist (BBM) respectively and each group was further allocated accordingly to three different concentrations. The areas were measured every other day for 14 days to evaluate the kinetic changes of the colonies. RESULTS: The interactions of ratio differences over interval were confirmed in groups treated with RBV and BBM. In RBV, the level of differences were achieved in groups treated with 10 mg/100 µl (p=0.026) and 40 mg/100 µl (p=0.000). The mean difference of ratio in groups treated with RBV was evident in day 3 and day 5. The groups that were treated with melittin or apamin did not show any significant interaction. In BBM groups, the significant levels of ratio differences over time intervals were achieved in groups treated with 200 µl/100 µl (p=0.000) and 300 µl/100 µl (p=0.030). CONCLUSION: The the bee venom in its whole form delivered a significant level of inhibition and we concluded that the venom in separated forms are not effective. Moreover, BV based products may exert as potential antifungal therapeutics.
Antifungal Agents ; Apamin ; Bee Venoms* ; Bees* ; Melitten ; Negotiating ; Trichophyton* ; Venoms

Background and OBJECTIVE: There has been a few case reports of anaphylaxis due to honeybee in Korea. In order to observe the clinical feature of bee sting anaphylaxis. Moderials and methods: Six patients living in Kyunggi province area were referred under history of anaphylaxis after the bee sting. Atopy was defined by skin prick test result to common inhalant allergen. Serum specific IgE antibody to each bee antigen was detected by radioimmunoassay to identify the causative bee. RESULTS: All six cases were female. Three had atopy and four had combined allergic diseases such as allergic rhinitis, asthma, and urticaria. The etiologic bees consisted of yellow jacket (6 cases), paper wasp (4 cases), yellow hornet (3 cases), white faced hornet (1 case) and honey bee (1 case). Four cases had experienced anaphylaxis after ant bite and they showed positive result on specific IgE to imported fire ant. Specific immunotherapy against causative bee venom was begun using bee venom extracts from Bayer (USA) based upon results of specific IgE anti-body to bee venom. CONCLUSION: The yellow jacket is the most common cause of bee venom anaphylaxis in this area. Further studies will be needed to evaluate possible cross-reactivity between bee and ant venom.
Anaphylaxis* ; Ant Venoms ; Ants ; Asthma ; Bee Venoms* ; Bees* ; Bites and Stings ; Female ; Fires ; Gyeonggi-do ; Honey ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E ; Immunotherapy ; Korea ; Radioimmunoassay ; Rhinitis ; Skin ; Urticaria ; Wasps

OBJECTIVETo explore the clinical effect of Agkistrodon antithrombogenase (AAT) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its possible mechanism.

METHODSBesides the conventional non-steroid anti-inflammatory agents and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug, patients were treated supplementally with intravenous injection of AAT. The intracutaneous test showed allergic to AAT patients were treated with Salvia injection and taken as control group. Changes of related clinical indexes in the two groups were observed.

RESULTSAfter 3 weeks treatment, condition of patients in both groups were improved clinically in joint swollen index, joint tenderness index, morning stiffness time, pain assessment (VAS) and health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) on daily life activity as well as ESR level (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), with the VAS, HAQ and fibrinogen levels more significantly improved than those of control (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), and the total effective rate higher in the AAT treated group than those in the control group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONAAT has good effect on easing clinical symptoms of RA possibly through anti-inflammation and improving the microcirculation with less toxic and adverse reaction, so is worthy of recommendation.

Adult ; Ancrod ; therapeutic use ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ; therapeutic use ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; drug therapy ; Crotalid Venoms ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies

BmK AngM1 is a long-chain scorpion toxin purified from the venom of Buthus martensii Karsch. It has been reported to exhibit evident analgesic effect and low toxicity, and has the potential to be a novel analgesic drug. The BmKAngM1 gene was transformed into Pichiapastoris GS115. Mut+ and Mut(s) recombinant strains were screened by phenotype and Mut+ recombinant strains were used to detect BmK AngMl gene copy number in the real-time PCR. Expression of BmK AngM1 in the Mut+ recombinant strain was compared with that of the Mut(s) recombinant strain with the same single copy of BmK AngM1 gene under the same condition. The results indicated that the transcription level of BmK AngM1 gene in the Mut(s) recombinant strain was 2.7 fold of that in the Mut recombinant strain in the real-time PCR, and the expression of BmK AngM 1 in the Mut(s) recombinant strain was 1.5 fold of that in the Mut+ recombinant strain. Therefore, Mut(s) recombinant strain showed better ability to express BmK AngM1 than Mut+ recombinant strain.
Animals ; Arthropod Proteins ; biosynthesis ; Gene Dosage ; Pichia ; metabolism ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; Scorpion Venoms ; chemistry

Latrodectus tredecimguttatus (commonly known as black widow spiders) have toxins not only in their venom glands, but also in other parts of their body, in their eggs and even in the newborn spiderlings. The study on the toxins in venom and materials outside the venom glands of the spiders to elucidate their differences and similarities, evolutional relationship and biological functions is of important theoretical and applicable significance. The development of modern protein chemistry and proteomics techniques has provided efficient means for the study of protein and peptide toxins of L. tredecimguttatus. By using such techniques, the molecular base and action mechanism of the toxins can be revealed at the levels of both single purified proteins and omics. Up to now, although protein chemistry and proteomics study on L. tredecimguttatus toxins have achieved a certain progress, the relevant work particularly that on the toxins in the materials outside the venom glands has to be further deepened.
Animals ; Arthropod Proteins ; chemistry ; Black Widow Spider ; chemistry ; Proteomics ; Venoms ; chemistry

One of the distinct characters of Latrodectus tredecimguttatus is that its toxic components exist not only in the venomous glands, but also in the tissues outside the venomous glands and even in the eggs. Investigation on the toxins outside the venomous glands can deepen our understanding of spider toxins and discover new lead molecules with important application prospects. In order to explore the low-abundance proteinaceous toxins in the L. tredecimguttatus eggs, we used bioinformatic strategies to mine a gene sequence encoding a peptide toxin from the transcriptome of L. tredecimguttatus eggs, and then heterologously expressed the gene successfully with a 3'-RACE combined with nest PCR strategy. Biological activity analyses indicated that the expressed peptide toxin, named latroeggtoxin-Ⅵ (LETX-Ⅵ), could inhibit Na⁺ channel currents in ND7/23 cells and promote dopamine release from PC12 cells, without obvious toxicity against Periplaneta americana and bacteria as well as fungi including Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans, demonstrating that LETX-Ⅵ is a mammal-specific neurotoxin with a potential application prospect in development of the tool reagents for neurobiological study and the drugs for treating related diseases.
Animals ; Arthropod Proteins/genetics* ; Black Widow Spider/genetics* ; Cloning, Molecular ; Rats ; Spider Venoms/genetics* ; Transcriptome

Among the enzymes found in snake venom, ribonuclease (RNase) has been known to have the potential effect against cancer and HIV. In a previous report, the author and his colleague have demonstrated that RNase from Vietnamese black cobra (Naja naja) venom differed from all the other identified RNase for its extremely low optimal value of pH. The results in this study showed that it also differed in nonlinear activity dependence on the enzyme concentrations and a sigmoidal curve of saturation with the substrate. This enzyme expressed the maximal activity at the ionic strength of 10 mM of the reaction buffers. Ammonium sulfate entirely suppressed the enzyme activity at the concentration over 70 mM, and sodium chloride reduced the activity by 70% at the level over 100 mM. No magnesium ion was needed for the activation of this RNase.
Snake Venoms ; Snakes ; Animals, Poisonous ; Black Cobra Venom

Agkistrodon acutus is a traditional Chinese herb medicine which has immunological regulation,anti-tumor,anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects,which is mainly used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis,ankylosing spondylitis,sjogren's syndrome and tumors. In order to excavate more important functional genes from A. acutus,the transcriptome of the venom gland was sequenced by the Illumina Hi Seq 4000,and 32 862 unigenes were assembled. Among them,26 589 unigenes were mapped to least one public database. 2 695 unigenes were annotated and assigned to 62 TF families,and 5 920 SSR loci were identified. The majority of mapped unigenes was from Protobothrops mucrosquamatus in the NR database,which revealed their closest homology. Three secretory phospholipase A_2 with different amino acid sequences showed similar spatial structures and all had well-conserved active sites. The 3 D structural models of C-type lectin showed conserved glycosylation binding sites( Asn45). This study will lay the foundation for the further study of the function of snake venom protein,and promoting the development and utilization of genome resources from A. acutus.
Agkistrodon/genetics* ; Animals ; Crotalid Venoms ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Snake Venoms/genetics* ; Snakes ; Transcriptome

Honeybee venom consists of melittin, apamin, phospholipase A2, hyaluronidase and other biologically active substances. It can cause potentially lethal reaction after mass envenomation. But, acute renal failure following multiple bee stings is rare and its pathogenesis is not well known. The possible causes of acute renal failure due to multiple bee stings are rhabdomyolysis, hemolysis and direct nephrotoxicity of bee venom. A 60-year-old man was the victim of a bee(Apis mellifera) attack. More than 780 bee stings were found over his face, neck and upper extremities. Gross hematuria, oliguria and generalized edema was developed within a few hours. He has fully recovered after general supportive care including hemodialysis. This case demonstrates that multiple bee stings may cause rhabdomyolysis with consequent acute renal failure.
Acute Kidney Injury* ; Apamin ; Bee Venoms ; Bees ; Bites and Stings* ; Edema ; Hematuria ; Hemolysis ; Humans ; Hyaluronoglucosaminidase ; Melitten ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Oliguria ; Phospholipases A2 ; Renal Dialysis ; Rhabdomyolysis* ; Upper Extremity ; Venoms