Cairns: It feels like you’re sitting on an elephant’s chest, you can’t breathe, you feel like the end is coming, and you want to die in pain.
A little Irukandji was recently drowned by a jellyfish.
Although you probably won’t die, toxicologist Jamie Seymour of James Cook University in Australia says you will.
He should know – he was stabbed 11 times.
But Seymour’s job is riskier than most: feeding poisonous sea creatures to create life-saving antivenom.
Dozens of Irukandji jellyfish, no bigger than the Kunji genus, swim in the garden in steel cages placed by the University of Queensland.
Another tank contains the most poisonous fish in the world: stonefish.
If the spine penetrates your skin, the pain will make you faint, and the area around the wound will turn black and die.
Stonefish venom is strong enough to kill humans, but there is no death penalty in Australia. Seymour was among the survivors of the disease.
His team studies Australia’s deadliest marine animals in an effort to understand and keep people safe.
“People, especially when you talk to Americans, are surprised that we don’t all die at birth.”
As Seymour wanders around the tank, he points out other deadly creatures, such as the box jellyfish, which can kill people in 10 minutes with its venom.
Despite the large number of poisonous animals in Australia, the threat of death is very rare.
The latest official figures show 32 animal-related deaths per year between 2001 and 2017, with horses and cattle the most killed.
By comparison, around 4,700 people will die in drug, alcohol and road traffic accidents in Australia in 2022 alone, according to government data.
“So the chance of being strangled or bitten by an animal in Australia is reasonable, but the chance of death is very low,” Seymour said.
The facility is the only facility that extracts the venom from these deadly marine animals and turns it into antivenom.
This process is very difficult for killer box jellyfish. Researchers must remove the tentacles, freeze them, and collect them after poisoning.
There is no anti-drug for Irukandji jellyfish.
Instead, doctors treat each symptom as it appears. If you get prompt medical advice, your chances of survival are high.
Poisoning is more difficult for stonefish.
Researchers inject a needle into the poison gland of live fish, withdrawing a pellet full of deadly liquid.
The venom is then sent to a life-saving antivenom processing facility in Victoria.
First, staff at the facility inject small amounts of the toxin into animals, such as horses, which produce natural antibodies over six months.
Antivenoms are sent to hospitals around Australia and some Pacific islands where they can be administered if someone is bitten or stung by an animal.
“We have the best antivenom in the world, there’s no doubt about that,” Seymour told AFP, citing Australia’s time and effort in developing the serum.
Scientists say antivenom may be more needed because climate change could increase the risk of antivenom.
Due to warmer ocean temperatures, jellyfish can now survive until the end of March.
Strong oceans are pushing these deadly sea lions and other marine animals south along the Australian coast.
Seymour’s students discovered that changes in temperature can also alter the toxicity of poisons.
“For example, if I make an antivenom for an animal at a temperature of 20 degrees and an animal living in a 30-degree environment bites me, the antivenom will not work,” he said.
Research has shown that animal venom can be used to treat a number of health conditions, including curing rheumatoid arthritis in mice in two weeks.
But this line of research remains largely unfounded, and Seymour says his work continues.
