The Platypus Strikes Again!
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Platypus Facts

The Platypus Attacks!

C-Type Natriuretic Peptides

Defensin-like Peptides

References

 


                   Photo courtesy of http://home.mira.net/~areadman/plat.htm
     In 1994, a second case report involving the injection of platypus venom into the human hand surfaced when a 29-year-old female naturalist was spurred (Fig. 4) while studying the animal in New South Wales. Two spurs entered the victim’s left hand. The young woman complained of intense pain and swelling of the hand and forearm, which developed over some hours. She was treated at the hospital with elevation, analgesics (pain relievers) and intravenous penicillin and flucloxacillin (antibiotics) for 24 hours. Doctors also administered Flagyl (an antibiotic) in addition to the previous antibiotics for 6 more days. This combined treatment caused a gradual subsistence in pain. However, increased pain and swelling returned to the patient after she stopped the antibiotic treatment. The recurring pain resulted from increased activity of the hand and arm. This pain settled after reinstitution of the above antibiotics, splintage, and elevation. The antibiotics were ceased after 48 hours and all symptoms disappeared after two weeks (Tonkin and Negrine, 1994).
                                                                    Figure 4: Another view of the venomous spur of the Platypus 
                                                                                    
                                                          Photo courtesy of http://www.pharmacology.unimelb.edu.au/pharmwww/avruweb/Platypus.htm
     Information obtained from case histories and anecdotal evidence indicates that the pain develops into long lasting hyperalgesia (increased neural sensitivity resulting in pain) that persists for days or even months. Conventional envenomation treatment proves to be of little use against platypus spurrings since non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents fail to relieve pain. Also, no objective evidence exists to support the use of steroids. Therefore, ice, elevation, demobilization, and analgesia induced through opiate administration or regional nerve blocks are the most effective treatments for the adverse effects of platypus envenomation (Tonkin and Negrine, 1994).

     The symptoms associatd with platypus spurrings differ markedly from those associated with snake envenomation, which can result in systemic effects such as paralysis, myolosis, kidney failure, and defibrination coagulopathy (de Plater et al., 2001).  Unlike snakes, platypuses spur their enemies in an attempt to deter them without necessarily inflicting permanent harm. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that platypus venom contains the highly toxic compounds found in snake venoms; potent neurotoxins which systemically paralyze an animals or proteases and phospholipases that aid in digestion of prey (Torres et al., 2000). 

This website was created for "From Venoms and Toxins to Drugs" a course taught by the Department of Biology, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28036. Send comments, questions, and suggestions to: laestes@davidson.edu