Science / Medicine : Snakebite Antidotes Improved

A new way to make effective snakebite anti-venom antidotes that have fewer side effects than existing products has been developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. About 45,000 people worldwide die each year from poisonous bites and stings, and many times that number are treated successfully.

As many as 80% of all patients treated with conventional anti-venoms develop allergic reactions to horse proteins in the anti-venoms.

Molecular biologists Sean B. Carroll and Bruce Thalley report in today’s edition of BioTechnology that they have made effective anti-venoms by injecting the poisons into chickens. The antibodies are concentrated in egg yolks, which makes isolation and purification easy. Chicken proteins also do not produce as severe a reaction as horse proteins. The anti-venoms have not yet been tested in humans.