Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
latimes.com
latimes.com
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 to access; in other words not that great. Having more time to reach that treatment is better than nothing but is hardly world changing. Also, maybe I overly cynical, but I'm skeptical that this medicine will be affordable and accessible to most of the people in poor rural communities that make up the bulk of dangerous bite victims.
I do a lot of hiking and, like many folks who do the same, have been within reach of venomous snakes more times than I can count. A pill that can prevent serious damage from a bite would be huge; if it's effective and accessible.
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 where such bites often occur.
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.
Further, even with antivenom administered, a person is likely to experience a range of side effects and symptoms that would be life threatening emergencies even in if they were inside an ICU, let alone out in the field. Without the compliment of an equipped medical professional and supportive care, antivenom may well do more harm than good in the immediate aftermath of envenomation.
Far better to get the person out of harms way and follow your local first aid procedure for snakebites. In Australia for example, that’s the pressure immobilisation technique, but in other countries it’ll depend on the venom in question. Rattlesnake venom is often necrotising and a tourniquet may cause more harm. Anything that buys more time is key.
I found more information about the active ingredient (cited in the article) on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varespladib
The studies say they are looking at doses of 10mg/kg[2]. Similar dosing to a pain pill.
On a first read, looks like a partial solution as it only delays onset of venom pathology for a day, tho not sure I'm interpreting that correctly.
Otoh, it looks like the pills can continue to be taken for many days.. so perhaps there's promise for the venom to be slowly metabolized somehow that isn't inhibited. Might also bring down the cost of antivenom if it's now feasible to funnel patients into central treatment over greater distances, so stocks could be better used.
[1]https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/155815#section=Che...
For rattlesnake bites the anti-venom has a 3 month shelf life and is expensive. Such snakebites are very rare (at least the local rattlesnake where I live). As such even though most rural areas have more rattlesnakes than humans, the local hospitals don't have anti-venom: most of the time it would expire unused. So if this pill has a better shelf life and gives time to air lift to the nearest large city (which may cover more than one state and likely has other ICU care that small rural hospitals can't provide) it is well worth having around even if it is just a stop gap.
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 bureaucrat in "public safety" or whatever didn't care about the life-threatening issues at hand and just yanked that privilege. Bureaucracy is hard to undo, and even if it weren't strictly a matter of improving my chance to live I'd much much much rather take a pill and a slow, safe route to the hospital than spend one more God-forsaken winter biking to work in -20F.
Notice the cut audio track. Giving these people the legal ability to give pain meds cant happen early enough. Mont Blanc helicopter rescue services also make some great documentaries every few years.
The situation is even worse for a lot of snake bite victims, as you cant get lifted out of the rain forest.
The scene for the national geographic clip starts at 7:30.
The situation is even more drastic for cave rescues, there its not unusual to take days for a doctor to arrive.
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?
The only people I've ever known to have lost their license were either drunk driving or speeding excessively (ie 35mph+ over the posted speed limit).
How do you innocently lose your license on multiple occassions?
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 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 army boots for every hike after that.
(Far less comfortable)
I hope it is true.
Mind you, I am old now. I believe the army uses boots that are generations newer than mine. (They still sell the classics) I dont know if the new ones are better or worse when it comes ot the possibility of avoiding a snake bite.
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.
> 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?
Come to think of it, I have no idea how a snake fang's construction compares to that of wood... Is there an expert on that lurking here?
Just for the record, that rule may not apply in tropical Africa.
Snakes are almost never aggressive though. A significant portion of snake bites happen to drunk people being stupid. The general guidance is to avoid putting your limbs anywhere you can't see and to leave snakes alone when you encounter them.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/29/health/mushrooms-poisoning-fo...
My guess is mycotoxins couldn't be more different - mushrooms are from a different kingdom of life altogether and don't share much physiology.
For generations, the Hickman family has foraged for mushrooms. Unlike his great-grandparents, who had to study which ones were safe to eat, Hickman thought he had an advantage: He pulled out his smartphone, photographed the fungi and uploaded the image to a plant identifier.
I can't even begin to fathom how someone would think this was a remotely smart idea. Trusting a photo identification algorithm on some random fuck-knows identifier based on your possibly badly composed phone photos, all because "man those look good".. Mind boggling.
Moments later, he said, “I couldn’t talk, felt dizzy and had trouble breathing.”
The team then administered the nasal spray, and within 20 minutes Lewin had recovered."
So it's a nasal spray, not a pill. Also a pill would take longer to be metabolized leaving the venom to do its damage longer. I'd say nasal spray or inhaler is the way to go. Or better, an epipen.
How common is it for a pharmaceutical company to be a public benefit corporation?
Varespladib has a very simple molecule, doesn't it? Kinda resembles indolecarboxamides like AB-BICA or something like that (the kind of things you can buy for $2000/kg).
But in case it's not... snakes do not bite me on the average day. Should I take antivenom every day, just in case? That may not be entirely free from side effects.
If you can condense all the bodily and kinesthetic intelligence and capability that humans (or say Belgian Malamutes) have developed in a single biochemical cocktail that would effectively pay off the tech debt of dispensing with limbs and power...it's pretty incredible to see what that looks like.
Not wishing it on anybody, but a pretty badass way to go out: Felled. By...evolution.
See: https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-...
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 healthcare system?
None of which is to say that our healthcare system ISN'T a mess, it is.
The problems have more to do with long-term things, eg cancer or kidney disease.
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...
Was also smirking that the snake venom collection the visuals were either of a person wearing no gloves or easily punctured latex.
Here's a video of the place near where I live doing it: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tN-mHIXoXlQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JDwMDlcBhE
It's nuts. Hats off to Zac the snake handler.
Stats from the video: 1 vial of antivenom requires 20 milkings. Worst case, a treatment requires 10 vials. This is part of the reason antivenom is expensive. Seeing this process, one can appreciate the attraction of a manufactured pill.
That really takes me back to my World of Warcraft days.
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 interest and substantial justification).
With Florida's problem of invasive snakes, extreme removal efforts seem likewise warranted as non-native species should be completely removed from the local environment, especially considering their profound negative impact on biodiversity.
Snakes on the other hand as mid-level predators are likely keystone species [1] and killing them would wreck their ecosystems by letting rodent populations grow out of control. In California they keep ground squirrel populations in check and provide a source of food for all kinds of raptors.
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...
The snakes which kill people virtually always fall into one of two categories; native species and pets. These shouldn't be killed except in the most dire of contrived circumstances (e.g. "what if there is a cobra poised to strike my child who cannot run away?"). Leaving the snake alone is always a better choice.
Snake shot should definitely not be carried in rattlesnake territory. Definitely not.
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 people) and so some populations of rattlesnakes are now less inclined to rattle. This puts humans at greater risk, so particularly in the case of rattlesnakes you should leave them alone.
If you step on one that didn't rattle and you kill it after getting bitten then I could forgive you, but killing any random rattlesnake you happen across is an asshole move.
In any case I've seen small children playing in places I 'formerly' saw a snake, and I'm willing to take all the 'discredit' in the world to not live with the guilt of finding out they were bit not long after I encountered the venomous snake. I don't give a shit about some snake off the beaten path far from where the vulnerable roam, and indeed I leave those alone.
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...
And, as above, mosquitoes are largely eco-irrelevant. Snakes are not. Anti-venom seems like the better solution.
"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, meaning selecting proper antivenom requires knowing which type of snake bit you... As a result, survivors of rattlesnake bites in Southern California, for instance, get a second painful surprise when presented with hospital bills totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars."
I applaud you for your willingness to undertake this burden for yourself, but I am afraid that I am not.
The issue of medical debt is a problem that should be addressed head on, not indirectly by exterminating snakes which only rarely kill anybody.
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...
Your comparison is lazy and ridiculous. Nonetheless, there are people trying to get cars out of cities (and I wish them luck).
I mean, it would be cooler if you did.