SEMINAR: Medical Research Seminar Series

Australia is sometimes portrayed as a dangerous place, bulging with an array of deadly animals. Envenoming syndromes (toxicity due directly to the venom) occur most commonly to snake and redback spider bites on land and a variety of jellyfish in the sea. However the majority of deaths are caused by the body’s allergic response (anaphylaxis)to insect bites and stings; clinically significant allergy may affect up to 5% of the population in some regional-rural areas. This talk will summarise a decade of research by our collaboration that has improved the way we manage anaphylaxis to insect venoms and envenoming by snakebite and redback spider bite.