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Has anyone heard of this, they are saying glycerol trinitrate cream slows venom in lymphatic cells by more than 50% giving you more time to get help, this could be a good thing to keep with a hot bite first aid kit, if anyone has any other info on this please share, an extra hour could mean keeping all your extremities and possibly life.
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NEWSCASTLE HERALD (UK) 27 June 11 Newcastle researchers' snake bite advance (Jacqui Jones)
A Newcastle discovery has the potential to increase the survival chances of snake bite victims through application of ointment commonly used for wound healing and to treat angina.
Researchers from the University of Newcastle, John Hunter Hospital and Calvary Mater Newcastle made the discovery while researching the lymphatic system.
The study by Dirk van Helden, Megan Saul, Paul Thomas, Geoff Isbister, Peter Dosen, Margaret O'Leary and Sally McFadden is published today in the journal Nature Medicine.
It found that applying ointment containing glyceryl trinitrate slowed the transport of snake bite toxin through the lymphatic system into the bloodstream. But the ointment does not inactivate the venom.
Associate Professor van Helden said the ointment would be best used as a first aid measure with a pressure bandage and immobilisation.
The researchers found that applying the ointment could improve snake bite victims' survival times by up to 50 per cent.
In slowing the transport of venom via the circulatory system it could give bite victims more time to seek medical help.
Associate Professor van Helden said the ointment would be a useful addition to first aid kits or bushwalkers' backpacks.
"We really do think it's going to give you a bit longer to survive," he said.
Associate Professor van Helden said snake bites accounted for about 100,000 deaths and 400,000 amputations a year worldwide.
The researchers hope to take the findings further to help develop a pressure pad containing the ointment that snake bite victims could apply to the affected area.
Newcastle researchers' snake bite advance

Nuts, another Aussie initiative credited to the Brits!
Sorry about that!
Wes

MIAMI HERALD (Florida) 29 June 11 Slowing Down Snake Venom (Sammy Mack)
Victims of venomous snake bites might soon be getting the gift of time.
A new study out this week in the journal Nature Medicine shows a treatment traditionally used in heart patients can slow the speed of snake venom hitting the blood stream.
The eastern coral snake is one of six venomous snakes indigenous to Florida. (Image: John Edwards Holbrook)
Australian researchers applied an ointment with nitric oxide around snake bite areas on mice. The mice that got the ointment lived 50% longer than the control mice.
Then human subjects were injected with a dye that simulates venom. Without the ointment, it took about 13 minutes for the dye to travel from the foot to the groin. With the ointment, the process slowed down to about 54 minutes. That quadruples the amount of time before the venom hits the blood stream.
“If you’re in a remote area it gives you time to get in contact with somebody,” says Captain Jeffrey Fobb of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Venom Response Program.
Fobb’s department maintains the country’s only antivenom bank. The Florida Department of Health doesn’t have statewide numbers, but Miami’s antivenom unit responds to about 100 calls in South Florida every year.
But don’t go antagonizing your venomous snakes just yet.
Fobb points Florida’s snakes are a little different from the Australian varieties. The venom in Florida snakes tends to cause tissue death. It’s one of the reasons snake bites sometimes lead to amputations. It’s not clear yet from the study if slowing down the the process will cause tissue-killing venom to pool in one area and do greater damage.
“It may not benefit us,” says Fobb. “If it was the case of life over limb, then perhaps it would.”
Fobb also points out that the best way to prevent a bad snake bite is to keep your distance from snakes.
Slowing Down Snake Venom