Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh has dismissed as unfounded the theory that the country has run out of antidote for scorpion venom.
“Let me make it crystal clear, T&T never had scorpion anti-venom. Never had it, so it is difficult to run out of something which was never available.”
Nevertheless, he said, “I want to reassure the public that if you are bitten by a scorpion, your chances of survival are excellent, once we start aggressive supportive therapy as soon as possible with or without a vaccine.”
He said the crucial thing is timing.
“You get that person to a hospital as soon as possible, or a health centre so that aggressive supportive therapy could be administered and the outcome is always excellent.”
There have been renewed calls for the availability of the antidote after four-year-old Maraval resident Nicola Dyer survived a scorpion sting.
Deyalsingh said he will not rush to jump on the bandwagon to import the scorpion antidote, until it is tested on a large scale and proven to be safe for use in this county.
He pointed to the worldwide discontinuance of the trivalent oral polio vaccine which has now been found to cause a strain of polio and the information now coming to light that the vaccine used to treat H1N1 may be toxic.
He said vaccines are being developed in Mexico and India, but as there are over 1,700 species of scorpions those vaccines may not be specific to the scorpions in this country.
He said there is a possibility that Costa Rica may have an anti-venom suitable for our indigenous poisonous scorpion and if that vaccine can provide better results than what the current protocol is providing, “we will surely look at it.”