自由時報

周虹汶

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年輕埃及人在蠍子裡發現財富

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多年前，有個年輕的埃及男子放棄了他的考古學位，在該國沙漠和海岸獵捕蠍子，並提煉牠們的毒液做醫藥用途。

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年僅25歲的穆罕默德．哈姆迪．比什塔現在是「開羅毒液公司」的老闆—此一計畫是在埃及各地農場飼養8萬隻蠍子和各種蛇，並保存牠們的毒液。

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用紫外線燈捕抓，這些蠍子被暴露在微弱電流下，來刺激毒液釋放，1公克可以製造2萬至5萬劑的抗蛇毒血清。

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1公克蠍毒可賣1萬美元，比什塔出口到歐洲和美國，用來製造抗蛇毒血清及各種其他藥物，包括用於高血壓等疾病。（路透）

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Young Egyptian finds a fortune in scorpions

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Several years ago, a young Egyptian man abandoned his degree in archaeology to hunt scorpions in the country’s deserts and shores, extracting their venom for medicinal use.

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At just 25 years old, Mohamed Hamdy Boshta is now the owner of the Cairo Venom Company - a project housing 80,000 scorpions in various farms across Egypt as well as a range of snakes, also kept for their venom.

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Caught using a colored UV light, the scorpions are exposed to a tiny electric current to stimulate the release of the venom, one gram of which can produce between 20,000 and 50,000 doses of antivenom.

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A gram of scorpion venom can fetch $10,000 and Boshta exports it to Europe and the U.S. where it is used to make antivenom and a range of other medicines, including for conditions such as hypertension. （Reuters）