Their investigation follows reports that men bitten by the Brazilian wandering spider Phoneutria nigriventer experienced priapism - long and painful erections. A two-year study has found that the venom contains a toxin, called Tx2-6 that causes the erections.
The bite of the Brazilian wandering spider is potent and can be deadly in some cases but researchers found men who claimed their sex lives had improved after a spider attack. So far, scientists believe that combining a version of the spider's venom with an existing drug for erectile dysfunction could produce better results.
I could make a facetious comment about preferring splints to spider venom or swipe at the pharmaceutical industry’s money motive, but this article reminds me that there are still an awful lot of pharmaceuticals out there in nature just waiting to be discovered. Who knows but the plant that just became extinct might just have contained the cure for cancer....
