Two cases of proven coral snake bites were reported in Belém, Pará State, Brazil. The first case was a severe one caused by Micrurus surinamensis. The patient required mechanical ventilation due to acute respiratory failure. The second case showed just mild signs of envenomation caused by Micrurus filiformis. Both patients received specific Micrurus antivenom and were discharged without further...

Venomous fish are often involved in human accidents and symptoms of envenomation include local (intense pain and swelling) and systemic effects (cardiovascular and neurological disorders). However the only commercially available antivenom is against the Indo-Pacific stonefish Synanceja trachynisStonefish Antivenom (SFAV). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential of SFAV in neu...

A multi-dose injector to facilitate the immunization of horse by the ‘low dose, low volume multi-site’ protocol in antivenom/antitoxin production is described. With the device, 20 subcutaneous injections of about 0.1 ml of CFA emulsified immunogen around the horse’s neck could be easily accomplished within 3 minutes without any stress to the animal. Also described is an apron to prevent blister...

Venom research has attracted an increasing interest in disparate fields, from drug development and pharmacology, to evolutionary biology and ecology, and rational antivenom production. Advances in "-omics" technologies have allowed the characterization of an increasing number of animal venoms, but the methodology currently available is suboptimal for large-scale comparisons of venom profiles. H...

Standard methods of commercial antivenom production are costly both in terms of animals, their maintenance, the use of large amounts of expensive venoms and man-hours. The basic technology, which involves the hyperimmunization of horses, bleeding and subsequent purification of the plasma immunoglobulin G (IgG) using salt precipitation and pepsin digestion, has not advanced significantly for man...

Snake bite is one of the most neglected public health issues in poor rural communities living in the tropics. Because of serious misreporting, the true worldwide burden of snake bite is not known. South Asia is the world's most heavily affected region, due to its high population density, widespread agricultural activities, numerous venomous snake species and lack of functional snake bite contro...

Snakebite envenoming is a serious condition requiring medical attention and administration of antivenom. Current antivenoms are antibody preparations obtained from the plasma of animals immunised with whole venom(s) and contain antibodies against snake venom toxins, but also against other antigens. In order to better understand the molecular interactions between antivenom antibodies and epitope...

The wet and dry venom yields for most Australian native dangerous snakes and a number of non-Australian species are presented. Snakes from the Pseudonaja genus yielded higher than previously published amounts and suggest reconsideration be given to increasing the volume of antivenom in each vial. Higher percentage solids were obtained from venoms from the 4 cobra species (Naja) and Pseudechis g...