Scientists have come up with a treatment for the deadly bites of black widow spiders.
Scientists could have a treatment for black widow spider bites
The boffins have engineered human antibodies to neutralise the lethal toxins from the arachnids which will reduce the reliance on the use of antibodies taken from horses to treat diseases caused by the insect bites.
Professor Michael Hust, from the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany, said: "For the first time, we present human antibodies which show neutralisation of black widow spider venom in a cell-based assay.
"This is the first step to replace the horse sera that are still used to treat the severe symptoms after a black widow spider bite."
The expert explained that many victims of black widow bites aren't treated because horse protein antivenom can have "undesirable" side effects - including serious allergic reactions.