每日跟讀#530: Worth the sting: Cuba’s scorpion pain remedy

Once a month for the last decade, Pepe Casanas, a 78-year-old Cuban farmer, has hunted down a scorpion to sting himself with, vowing that the venom wards off his rheumatism pains.

過去10年，78歲古巴農夫佩佩‧卡薩納斯每月捕抓一隻蠍子，用來螫他自己，信誓旦旦聲稱牠的毒液阻擋了他的風濕痛。

Researchers in Cuba have found that the venom of the blue scorpion, whose scientific name is Rhopalurus junceus, endemic to the Caribbean island, appears to have anti-inflammatory and pain relief properties, and may be able to delay tumor growth in some cancer patients.

古巴研究人員發現，學名稱為「Rhopalurus junceus」的這種藍色蠍子——這個加勒比海島嶼的特有物種——毒液似乎具有消炎與鎮痛特性，且在某些癌症病人身上，可能可以延緩腫瘤發展。

"I put the scorpion where I feel pain," Casanas said while demonstrating his homemade pain relief with a scorpion that he found under a pile of debris on the patch of land he cultivates in Cuba’s western province of Pinar del Rio.

「我把這種蠍子放在我覺得痛的地方」，卡薩納斯一邊說著，一邊拿著他於古巴西部比那爾德里奧省一塊耕地上一堆破瓦礫下發現的一隻蠍子，示範他自創的疼痛緩解法。

"It hurts for a while, but then it calms and goes and I don’t have any more pain," he said.

他說：「會痛一陣子，但接著和緩下來就沒事，然後我就不再感覺痛了。」

Source article: http://iservice.ltn.com.tw/Service/english/english.php?engno=1260735&day=2019-01-12

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