Antivenom

A bite from a poisonous snake can be fatal or at least seriously injure its victim. Even venom from a dead snake can still be potent, as shown in the case of 100 Indian children who fell sick after eating a meal in which a dead snake was found.

“Reportedly, the cook served the food to the children after removing a dead snake from it,” the National Human Rights Commission said in a statement, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The meal was served last week in a government-run school in the city of Mokama in Bihar, one of India’s poorest states, according to AFP.

While people try to avoid being bitten by a snake, Tim Friede, a snake expert from California, lets poisonous snakes bite him after he injects himself with antivenom in a test to see if the serum will work.

Immunologist Jacob Glanville collaborated with Friede after they met in 2017 and the two developed an antivenom that protects mice against bites from 19 species of venomous snakes using antibodies from Friede’s blood and a venom-blocking drug, CNN reported.

Friede exposed himself to the venom of snakes over the course of nearly 18 years, effectively gaining immunity to several neurotoxins. Glanville, CEO and chairman of biotechnology from Centivax, and his colleagues at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, studied Friede’s blood to develop the antivenom which is being considered for human application.

The research on the antivenom was published on 2 May in the scientific journal Cell, according to CNN.