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Snake Venoms and Scorpion Venom Research in the Middle East: A Review

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Clinical Toxinology in Asia Pacific and Africa

Part of the book series: Toxinology ((TOXI,volume 2))

Abstract

Modern research during the last decades has shown that both snakebites and scorpion stings are among the most important causes of envenoming and are responsible for significant morbidity and mortality, and hence they are a major public health issue in tropical and desert areas in many regions including the Middle East. This has generated a plethora of research in several regions, not only the classification and determination of the fauna but also of the intricate mechanisms of actions and resultant effects on humans. This chapter highlighted the major tracks of research undertaken to gain a better understanding of the intricacies of scorpions and snakes that share our ecosystem. The distribution of snakes and scorpions, classification, and mechanism of action of their venoms will be summarized. Management modalities, whether with serotherapy or supportive, will be discussed to enlighten on researches undertaken to protect humans from these ancient foes. Moreover, research undertaken to study and fully characterize venom toxins will be outlined with emphasis on new trends of utilizing venom toxins as beneficial therapeutic biological interventions in several disease states such as hypertension, thromboembolic disease, and cancer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Higher Education, King Saud University, 616, Riyadh, 11421, Saudi Arabia

    Amal Jamil Fatani

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  1. Amal Jamil Fatani
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Correspondence to Amal Jamil Fatani .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Venom and Toxin Research Programme Department of Anatomy, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    P. Gopalakrishnakone

  2. Professor of Medicine (Rtd), Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Abul Faiz

  3. Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka

    Ravindra Fernando

  4. Department of Clinical Medicine Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka

    Christeine Ariaranee Gnanathasan

  5. Infectious and Tropical Diseases Unit Department of Medicine, Bayero University Kano Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria

    Abdulrazaq Garba Habib

  6. Department of Medicine, School of Medicine National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Chen-Chang Yang

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Fatani, A.J. (2015). Snake Venoms and Scorpion Venom Research in the Middle East: A Review. In: Gopalakrishnakone, P., Faiz, A., Fernando, R., Gnanathasan, C., Habib, A., Yang, CC. (eds) Clinical Toxinology in Asia Pacific and Africa. Toxinology, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6386-9_38

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