Animals Venoms Are Helping To Treat A Wide Range Of Medical Conditions

The world is filled with many deadly and venomous animals. The author, Stephanie Pappas, of the article, “How Animals Venoms Are Helping to Treat a Wide Range of Medical Conditions”, talks about these animals, and how, even though fatal, their toxins could be used to help treat certain diseases that affect millions of people. The author makes sure that the purpose of this article is clear and answers the question in the title. The writer does this by describing why the venom is dangerous in the first place, how the venom’s lethal side effects inspired the creation of these types of medication, and by mentioning what medical conditions could be treated by these sorts of medication.

In the beginning of the document, the author gives the cone snail’s venom as an example for venom that is already being used in medication. The article makes it clear that this is not an animal that you want to in anyway interact with, as it mentions the terrible side effects of it’s venom, including possible death; However, this lethal venom is, in fact, used in painkillers. Because of this, it is believed by most of the scientific community that other animals’ venom may have properties that can help treat many different types of medical conditions. This may include possible treatment for “epilepsy, diabetes and chronic pain”.

The article, “How Animals Venoms Are Helping to Treat a Wide Range of Medical Conditions”, even states, “It certainly doesn’t sound like something you’d want to inject willingly. But cone snail venom is the basis for a U.S. Food and Drug Administration- approved painkillers,... the journal science argues that other animals’ venoms could hold the same promise.” This statement shows that the author is trying to make the point that these animals’ venom, though threatening, could have the potential to be used in medication just like the cone snail’s venom, and she does this by providing evidence from other articles, as well. The author then moves on to further prove her intended purpose.

The writer talks about the potential of these venoms all together. She does this by including and backing up her information with facts. The article mentions that these animals make up 15 % of the population on earth. It also mentions the evolution of these lethal predators and their prey, saying that soon the population of prey will become immune to the predators venom. This will in turn lead to the predator evolving, continuing the cycle over and over again. The document then talks about how useful the make up of these venoms could be, stating, “The peptides in venom have evolved to be very stable in the body, with chemical bonds that can withstand injection into a foreign environment.” This quote from the article demonstrates that the writer further tries to prove her point talking about how the evolution in these predators can be useful for us and even going into detail about it. The article also gives spiders, scorpions, and even the cone snail, again, as an example. It talks about how these organisms “produce venom that targets the ion channels on the surface of nerve cells,... Ion channels open and close to let molecules in and out of the cell, and crucial to functions like cell communication. As such, peptides that act on ion channels can be useful for treating neurological disorders like stroke, epilepsy and chronic pain.” This continues to show that the author is trying to further validate their argument that these venoms could be used to help with certain conditions.

The article then moves on and talks about the use of venom in medications and how many of these “venom-inspired drugs” have been added to the list so far. It includes information and facts to further develop the purpose of the article. It talks about how the FDA has approved only 6 of the medication that are inspired by these animals’ venom. The writers even talks about these drugs and their uses and which animal they come from. The article goes back to the cone snail, as an example, to establish its use in medication by mentioning how it inspired the painkiller ,ziconotide, because of its ability to numb pain. It even states, “One of the effects of this venom is to numb pain so that the fish doesn’t realize that it’s been struck and needs to escape. It was this pain-numbing effect that led to the development of ziconotide.” This statement once again shows that the article was made to establish the point that other venomous could also help treat certain medical conditions, like the cone snail. The article also does go on to mention that the cone snail and other animals’ venom that have been used so far and how that they may just be rarities, as most of the venoms going through trail won’t make it. But the article still feels that it is still worth it to it to try to find these venoms that may just work.

In conclusion the article, “How Animals Venoms Are Helping to Treat a Wide Range of Medical Conditions”, talks about how venom from certain organisms have the potential to help treat certain medical conditions. It goes on to give examples and explanation to try to prove their point and even did some research and provided quotes from other articles to further prove the potential these venomous animals have. It makes the point clear by demonstrating what exactly venom could be used for, how it may help certain medical conditions, and the actually chances of these venoms actually making it through trial. This article made it point very clear to understand by providing examples and explantions. It also provided quotes from many different other article futher proving their point to be accurate. It also answered the quetion in the title about how venom could be used to help treat certain disease. It answers it by telling us what makes the venoms so special, how they work exactly, and what conditions could they possibely help treat. Overall it was an interesting article and it gave a lot of information and evidence to back up the information.