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Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
21–30 of 98 posts
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#22> he was administered 28 vials of antivenom intravenously at a cost of $3,400 per vial. As someone who lives in Australia, who grew up with aggressive and deadly snakes, what the actual hell? Nobody is out of pocket in Australia following a snake bite and we have many more species and all of the geographic remoteness of the South Western US. Is this just another case of a side effect of the state of the USA healthcar…
Given he’s most certainly on Medicare Advantage at 74, and the context of the article, I think that’s the sticker cost from the manufacturer, not the patient-billed cost. His bill was, most likely, in the hundreds.
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#23> he was administered 28 vials of antivenom intravenously at a cost of $3,400 per vial. As someone who lives in Australia, who grew up with aggressive and deadly snakes, what the actual hell? Nobody is out of pocket in Australia following a snake bite and we have many more species and all of the geographic remoteness of the South Western US. Is this just another case of a side effect of the state of the USA healthcar…
If you're in Sydney, Australia, head an hour north to visit the Australian Reptile Park. It's a small zoo that additionally specialises in snakes and spiders that can kill you. It is the sole source of the venom that gets used to make Australia's anti-venoms [1].
The Australian Reptile Park may be related to the cost aspect, in that their program provides a ready supply of the raw materials needed for anti-venom.
Incidentally they collect funnel web spiders for venom production and have a collection network, whereby people can harvest funnel web spiders from their backyards and drop them into collection points around Sydney [2].
Cost is a recognised factor in anti-venoms, and there is ongoing research to reduce their cost [3].
[1] https://www.reptilepark.com.au/animals-at-the-australian-rep...
[2] https://www.reptilepark.com.au/animals-at-the-australian-rep...
[3] https://www.newcastle.edu.au/research/stories/research-impac...
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#24Why don't we do with (problem) snakes what we do with the mosquito, specifically releasing either a) irradiated males who are sterile that produce offspring that do not hatch, or b) males with an installed gene drive that can only sire males for all future generations? Either case results in a population crash. I don't know if gene drives have been used against wild populations as yet (although there is great interes…
Snakes kill and injure vastly, incomprehensibly fewer people than mosquitos. I’m not clear why we would try to destroy them or why that would be remotely desirable.
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#25I was told in the military that snakes cant bite through a regular army boots. Thankfully, I have never had it proven to me. The snake can bite above the boot, or on other parts of the body so I am not saying it provies that much protection. I used to do a bit of hiking in Colorado. Using advanced open sandals. I can't remember the manufacturer. I was inches from stepping on a rattlesnake on one hike. I got out my ar…
> I was told in the military that snakes cant bite through a regular army boots.
Maybe... I definitely stepped on a honey locust thorn in boots tougher than standard army issue and had it pierce the bottom of the boot, my foot, and the top of the boot. Rattlensake teeth have different geometry and force profiles, so they might not penetrate, but I wouldn't want to prove that fact in person.
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#26Why don't we do with (problem) snakes what we do with the mosquito, specifically releasing either a) irradiated males who are sterile that produce offspring that do not hatch, or b) males with an installed gene drive that can only sire males for all future generations? Either case results in a population crash. I don't know if gene drives have been used against wild populations as yet (although there is great interes…
Snakes kill and injure vastly, incomprehensibly fewer people than mosquitos. I’m not clear why we would try to destroy them or why that would be remotely desirable.
Let's go over the numbers.
Snakes: 50,000.
Seems fair game to me. How would you feel if you had lost a loved one to a viper, even if they engaged in rock climbing or another dangerous activity? Convictions crumble before personal adversity.
https://digg.com/data-viz/link/deadly-animals-kill-most-huma...
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#27Why don't we do with (problem) snakes what we do with the mosquito, specifically releasing either a) irradiated males who are sterile that produce offspring that do not hatch, or b) males with an installed gene drive that can only sire males for all future generations? Either case results in a population crash. I don't know if gene drives have been used against wild populations as yet (although there is great interes…
99 times out of 100, snakes leave you alone if you leave them alone. Most snake bites occur on the hands or face because they happen when people are messing with them. It's extremely unethical to kill snakes. If you have a venomous snake somewhere on your property that you cannot tolerate it, you should call an expert to come move it for you.
It is not unethical to kill an invasive species. The invasive snakes in Florida would better serve their local biosphere if they ceased to exist, no question.
For the 50k annual human fatalities from snakes, that is a matter of personal opinion.
https://digg.com/data-viz/link/deadly-animals-kill-most-huma...
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#28> Drug trials are being conducted by Ophirex Inc. — a public benefit corporation that Lewin founded with musician and entrepreneur Jerry Harrison in Corte Madera, Calif. How common is it for a pharmaceutical company to be a public benefit corporation?
Probably not common at all considering those are a more recent trend that is still a small minority of new companies.
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#29I was told in the military that snakes cant bite through a regular army boots. Thankfully, I have never had it proven to me. The snake can bite above the boot, or on other parts of the body so I am not saying it provies that much protection. I used to do a bit of hiking in Colorado. Using advanced open sandals. I can't remember the manufacturer. I was inches from stepping on a rattlesnake on one hike. I got out my ar…
> I was told in the military that snakes cant bite through a regular army boots. Maybe... I definitely stepped on a honey locust thorn in boots tougher than standard army issue and had it pierce the bottom of the boot, my foot, and the top of the boot. Rattlensake teeth have different geometry and force profiles, so they might not penetrate, but I wouldn't want to prove that fact in person.
> honey locust thorn
> pierce the bottom of the boot, my foot, and the top of the boot
Oh dear god.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_locust#/media/File:Honey...
> These thorns are thought to have evolved to protect the trees from browsing Pleistocene megafauna
Did your foot heal alright?
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Snakes kill and injure vastly, incomprehensibly fewer people than mosquitos. I’m not clear why we would try to destroy them or why that would be remotely desirable.
Let's go over the numbers. Snakes: 50,000. Seems fair game to me. How would you feel if you had lost a loved one to a viper, even if they engaged in rock climbing or another dangerous activity? Convictions crumble before personal adversity. https://digg.com/data-viz/link/deadly-animals-kill-most-huma...
To 1 million deaths by mosquito and exponentially more infected by Malaria. Again, it’s just not close, and it’s going to be vastly fewer when you think about rattlesnakes in the US or whatever in Australia.
And, as above, mosquitoes are largely eco-irrelevant. Snakes are not. Anti-venom seems like the better solution.