Scorpion anti-venom is first to be approved by FDA

Health officials are lauding a newly approved anti-venom by the FDA that they say is now the best way to treat sometimes-deadly scorpion stings.

Leslie Boyer, director of a University of Arizona institute that studies venoms, says Thursday that the FDA approval of the new scorpion anti-venom is "historic."

Boyer led clinical trials for the drug known as Anascorp in Arizona and Nevada, and says it stops all symptoms of a scorpion sting typically within four hours.

In the most severe cases, scorpion venom acts as a nerve poison.

Severe pain throbs at the sting site and sometimes spreads. The venom causes extreme nausea, violent vomiting, slurred speech and blurred vision.

Arizona accounts for the majority of scorpion stings in the U.S. but Nevada and New Mexico also see them.