The Real Scorpion King -An Indian who revolutionized the treatment for Scorpion Sting

Scorpion stings are a major public health problem in many  tropical countries, especially Sahelian Africa, South India, the Middle East, Mexico, and South Latin America. The estimated annual number of scorpion stings is 1.2 million ( there could be million more unrecorded data ) .

Scorpion Sting leads to sudden heart failure and accumulation of fluids in the lungs which leads to death . The traditional treatment used to be Lytic cocktail ( Nothing to do with the cocktail that one drinks in the bar ! ) Lytic cocktail consists of drugs like pethidine , chlorpromazine , promethazine .

The traditional treatment did cost alot of patient"s life . One study done in Western India highlight's this issue . About 30 % of patients eventually died (i.e almost 1 out of 3 patients died !! ) . This was a major concern among paediatricians , emergency physicians ,  general physicians and offcourse for the parents ( children being the most common victims ) !! .

Dr.H.S.Bawasker , revolutionized the treatment for scorpion sting in 1999. With his discovery he brought down the death rate from 30 % to less than 1 % .

He discovered that the use of tablet Prazosin did the magic . Prazosin counteracted the heart failure and the accumulation of fluids in lungs thereby saving the victim . Hats off to him  . He soon shot to fame with his discovery among doctors around the world .  His article was published in all the prestigious medical journals . British medical journal appreciated his article by publishing in the front cover !!

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