BACKGROUND Snake envenomation is a serious public health threat in the rural areas of Asian and African countries. To date, the only proven treatment for snake envenomation is antivenom therapy. Cross-neutralization of heterologous venoms by antivenom raised against venoms of closely related species has been reported. The present study examined the cross neutralizing potential of a newly develo...

UNLABELLED In 2001, a new antivenin was introduced to the United States and became widely available in the snakebite season of 2002. We investigated what impact this may have had on snakebite treatment and medical outcome. METHOD The study used a retrospective review of all snakebites to humans reported to the National Poison Center Database System from 2000 to 2007. RESULTS During the 8 ye...

BACKGROUND Snake bite is a neglected public health problem in the world and one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity in many areas, particularly in the rural tropics. It also poses substantial economic burdens on the snake bite victims due to treatment related expenditure and loss of productivity. An accurate estimate of the risk of snake bite is largely unknown for most countries in ...

Viperfav(TM) is a commercial F(ab')₂ antivenom prepared against European vipers venom. It is safe and effective for treating envenomation caused by Vipera aspis and Vipera berus. Therapeutic efficacy for treating Vipera ammodytes ammodytes (V. a. ammodytes) envenoming has not been yet described, although protective efficacy has been demonstrated in preclinical studies. We report on a 32-year-ol...

The present study expresses the Age Old Traditional Treatments for Snake Bites in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. Tribal people of this area have authentic information about antidotes for poisonous bites. They have been using different plant parts like leaves, fruits, flowers, seeds, stem bark, tubers and roots as antidotes in the form of paste, powder, juice, infusion, decoction, and in c...

Most spiders use venom to paralyze their prey and are commonly feared for their potential to cause injury to humans. In North America, one species in particular, Loxosceles reclusa (brown recluse spider, Sicariidae), causes the majority of necrotic wounds induced by the Araneae. However, its distributional limitations are poorly understood and, as a result, medical professionals routinely misdi...

INTRODUCTION Neurotoxic envenoming following the bites of kraits (Bungarus spp.) is a common cause of death in the dry zone of Sri Lanka and elsewhere in South Asia. Most of these bites occur at night and are inflicted on people sleeping on the ground. Thus we hypothesized that the simple measure of sleeping above ground would help to reduce the number of observed krait bites. METHODS This st...