Saturday, August 25, 2012

Blood and Venom



This is pretty scary.
When a snake bites you, people say don't cut and don't suck out venom.
Stay calm so the venom doesn't travel quickly in your system.
We can see here what happens to blood when a snake bites.
All snakes are different
A King Cobra has enough venom to kill an elephant.
Its' venom attacks the lymphatic glands.
A rattlers' travels in the blood so a person is told to lie very still.
Some anti venom costs 1,500 pounds.
Some you can only find in certain countries and has to be brought in.

A gram of snake venom is worth more than a gram of gold.
So now we can understand why people raise venomous snakes.
I don't know if its worth the risk, making friends with those sharp fangs and
 most people who handle snakes, say they do get bit.
There is just no way around it.
I wonder if aspirin would help stop venom from coagulating blood?
hmmm
Probably it would be too slow.
It took seconds for this blood to coagulate.

In Australia a gram of dried venom goes for these prices.
to reputable research facilities.

Price per gram $US
Acanthophis antarcticus $750
Notechis scutatus $1,500
Oxyuranus scutellatus $800
Pseudechis australis $500
Pseudonaja affinis $3,800
Pseudonaja nuchalis $3,800
Pseudonaja textilis $3,800

Gold per gram costs 45.00 US but usually they will sell it for more than this price.
Big difference hunh?
A vial of scorpian antivenom used mainly for children costs over 12,000 dollars and
you would need 3-5 vials.
Sheesh!
Anti venom is produced by taking venom, diluting it and then injecting it into a horse, sheep or goat which will  develop antibodies which then could be extracted to use as antivenom.\
Some people give themselves the injection and develop antevenom in their own bodies and thus become immune to a special snakes' bite.
King snakes, hedge hogs, mongoose and possums also have a better immune system to some snake bites.

A social system to cover the cost of snake bites would be beneficial considering the price of ante venom.
but there is not much out there if one should get bit.

It's nice to know there is a social system there to help pay for expensive procedures but for small things, people can afford to pay themselves. At least in my opinion.
Many people rush to doctors for any little reason jacking up the costs of health care.

Health professionals also tend to do things twice as opposed to once which results again in double costs.
Compare this to what a person, who would go to a doctor only when there was a real reason to go and
pay no double payments, because the doctor would have to do the job right the first time.
Then there are people who share a card using the same name.
If the files are checked you have some sick puppy with simultaneous diseases and different blood type. lol

Something to think about
xoxoxoxox

10 comments:

Diane Stringam Tolley said...

I had no idea that snake venom was so expensive! Hmmm . . . snake ranching is looking more and more attractive! :)

Lydia Kang said...

That was such a cool video! Gross yet cool!

A Lady's Life said...

Diane - I don't know. The ante venom is expensive and the bite lethal if one can't get it on time.lol

A Lady's Life said...

Lydia - I never knew this was what happened to your blood inside.
What happens if some one eats this blood clot? Like another animal? or even the snake itself?Probably it's immune to its' own bite.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hiya .. I really couldn't watch the video - but snakes 'worry' me .. and I'm quite glad I live in the UK .. getting the anti-venom must be scary at the best of times and storage times etc .. perhaps that's why it's so expensive ..

Cheers Hilary

A Lady's Life said...

Hilary - Oh, the UK has poisonous snakes too.lol

Gattina said...

No snakes here except in a zoo ! Fortunately !
BTW my son is 2 m "long", lol !

A Lady's Life said...

Gattina - So is mine lol
So you and your husband are growing
shorter now lol

Memoirs of Me & Mine said...

A friends little boy got bit by a rattlesnake recently. He is doing well now.

Thanks for the info.

A Lady's Life said...

Memoirs - Oh My! How terrible!
I hate snakes but apparently they can make medicine out of the venom to cure things like cancer.
Just to think one bit a child is awful.
I am glad he is ok now.