Making Antivenom

Popular Mechanics has an interesting article up on the science behind the making of antivenom. The article discusses the "milking" of the snakes, the processing of the extracted venom, the inoculation of a host animal with trace amounts of venom, extraction and purification of the antibodies produced, and how the end product is used to treat snakebite victims.

One of the most surprising comments in the article related to the host animals used to produce the antivenom antibodies:

Horses are most commonly chosen as the animals to create antibodies because they thrive in many environments worldwide, have a large body mass, get along with each other and are forgiving. Goats and sheep can work well, too. People have also used donkeys, rabbits, cats, chickens, camels, rodents and even sharks. "Sharks make nice antibodies," Boyer says, "but obviously aren't easy to work with."

Considering that the whole process starts with handling angry, poisonous snakes, the comment about sharks not being easy to work with seems especially amusing.

The article also mentions a more personal method for antivenom production, as practiced by Bill Haast, the legendary snake wrangler:

There's one other, quirkier way to make antivenom – one that physicians don't exactly recommend. In 1948 Bill Haast began injecting himself with increasing doses of diluted cobra venom in order to develop his own immune resistance. He flew around the world to donate transfusions of his antibody-rich blood to treat 21 snakebite victims. Venezuela made him an honorary citizen after he traveled into the jungle to donate blood to a young snake-bitten boy. According to his wife Nancy, all 21 patients survived.

Head over to Popular Mechanics for the full article, or take a look at a YouTube video showing how the snake milking is performed: