61–70 of 98 posts
Statistically this seems much less of a big deal for the US than for elsewhere. Total number of fatal snakebites per year, worldwide: 138,000 (article points this out). Total number of those in the US: 5. (Not 5%; 5 people.) If you can get to any decent hospital within a few hours after a bite, you'll probably live. If you're one of the unlucky 5 who cannot, then yes this pill might be a good idea.
I 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…
Just for the record, that rule may not apply in tropical Africa.
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There’s been some interesting self experimentation in that direction. Unclear if the startup Tim Friede was involved with actually has gone anywhere yet, but he was basically dosing himself with a plethora of snake venoms to build immunity. See: https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-...
I thought I heard somewhere that a blood transfusion from someone who was bitten acted as antivenom even. Not sure if that's true or where I even heard it. Very interesting if it is true.
> 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.
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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...
How would you feel if you had lost a loved one to a car, even if they engaged in walking around at night or another dangerous activity ?
I don't see any one rushing to eradicate cars...
I've always wondered if we could have venom vaccines using repeated micro doses.
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Most of them are men with old fashioned attitudes towards snakes who aren't as young and spry as they used to be, who fuck with the snakes and get rewarded with a bite. Rattlesnakes are perhaps the most courteous of all venomous snakes; they are named for their instinctual habit of making a lot of noise to warn you away. Unfortunately their rattling often gets them killed by ignorant people (particularly those old pe…
I don't care about ethics nor being an asshole. Curious what remaining methods of shame are incoming.
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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.
Notice first the text from the original article: "The World Health Organization estimates that 138,000 people are killed by venomous snakes annually." While that may be irrelevant to you (even in the face of personal affliction), the cost of surviving this interaction is also high: "During that time, he was administered 28 vials of antivenom intravenously at a cost of $3,400 per vial... They are also species-specific…
The issue of medical debt is a problem that should be addressed head on, not indirectly by exterminating snakes which only rarely kill anybody.
It's unclear to me how much damage the pill prevents versus simply delaying it. I didn't see any clear statements on that in the article and there are a few quotes like, "intended to at least buy victims enough time to get to the hospital." If victims still need anti-venom to prevent serious injury then the drug is much less exciting. As the article points out anti-venom treatments are expensive, unreliable, and hard…
Delaying is already massive seeing as you often cant take anti-venom with you due to refrigeration needs. That delay is likely enough to get you to a clinic. For the cost aspects, as India has shown life saving generics for people who couldnt afford it anyway are always an option. edit: Its also worth mentioning that the "accessible by drone" aspect to reduce treatment times is rarely possible in the rain forests whe…
Given the expenses already involved, it seems to me that single use drones should be on the table. Fixed wing for range, with detachable wings and a hard dense fuselage for penetrating the tree canopy. They'd cost a few thousand a pop.
It's unclear to me how much damage the pill prevents versus simply delaying it. I didn't see any clear statements on that in the article and there are a few quotes like, "intended to at least buy victims enough time to get to the hospital." If victims still need anti-venom to prevent serious injury then the drug is much less exciting. As the article points out anti-venom treatments are expensive, unreliable, and hard…
In the US that's still crazy exciting. Most of my hikes (at least, before I moved to the Bay), I'd rarely be within a 3h jog of the closest place a chopper could land, and that's assuming you have a satphone or something to actually contact the outside world. Plus, in a ton of states, driving is a privilege, not a right. I've lost my license a few times after the judge in question said I was justified but some bureau…
A few times? How on earth have you been so unlucky? They won't take your license away just for speeding, let alone to a hospital, and even if that happened once to somebody I can't imagine it happening 'a few times' to a single person.
Sorry to be blunt, but were you driving drunk?