Anti- Venom

I was recently watching a show on Animal planet, and it involved an animal rescue crew. In this specific episode a child got bit by a venomous snake, and had to receive antivenom. This made me ponder about what antivenom is, how it’s made, and who created it. So I began my research right away.

First, I learned what antivenom actually was. Antivenom is a biological product that is created to treat the venomous bites and stings of poisonous animals.  There are two types of antivenin, monovalent and polyvalent. Monovalent antivenom is only used to treat the bite of one certain animal, while polyvalent antivenom is used to treat the bites of many animals. If an animal has no specific anti-venom developed for it, polyvalent anti-venom must be used. There is also a certain time frame for anti-venom to be administered. Although they should be administered as soon as possible, an ideal time period for antivenom to be administered would be within four hours of contamination. That would be an ideal time for snake bites, for other bites the time varies.

I later inquired about the production of antivenom is made.  Firstly, more than just snakes are used tocreate anti-venom. Extremely small amounts of venom, not enough to affect them, are injected into horses over a long period of time. Animals like these horses are essential to the production of anti-venom. After 10-12 months, antibodies are taken from the blood of the horses. It’s important to understand that these animals don’t suffer negative effects.  These animals are even able to be used for multiple years.

My finale inquiry was into who created anti-venom was. The first anti-venom was created by Albert Léon Charles Calmette. He was born in Nice, France in 1863 and died in Parris in 1933. He created the first antidote in 1894. Clamette also did many other thing including research in other vaccines. Calmette was a very accomplished man, and his achievements truly revolutionized medicine.

Through a question brought on to me by watching a show, I was able to learn about anti-venom. I learned about what anti-venom is, the production behind it, and who created it. Anti-venom has undoubtedly saved countless lives. The world is a safer place because of it.

  • What sort of animal bites is antivenom available for?
  • What would the worst place to get bitten be, when
    speaking about venomous snakes?
  • How would the world be different without antivenom?

2 thoughts on “Anti- Venom

  1. Your blog post about antivenom is very interesting.
    I heard recently that there are shortages of a lot of antivenoms.
    I read an article at http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/snakebites-about-to-get-more-deadly
    about shortages. It said that all kinds of antivenom shortages are happening.
    The state of Arizona ran out of antivenom for scorpion bites after the only specialist that could make it, retired.
    The production of antivenoms is listed by the World Health Organization as a “neglected public health issue.”

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