Comments | jon_decles: The Excitement Never Ends!

jon_decles

The Excitement Never Ends!

Dec 05, 2007 22:54

It has been a while since I posted, but I have not been idle. The kids (Jon, Kim, Byron, and Anastacia) moved in during the run of "Ghosts of Olompali" and moved out at the beginning of the run of "The Great Dickens Christmas Fair." The good news is that they are only 5 miles away from me now, instead of thirty, and Byron is in the local school, ( Read more... )

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danceswthcobras December 6 2007, 10:27:44 UTC

An old friend waves hello from the wilds of the Southeast, where I've been off chasing snakes.

Sssserpentes... jon_decles December 19 2007, 21:20:34 UTC

I wondered often how you were doing. From your blog I got the impression that you had become a zoo keeper in Arizona ( ... )

Re: Sssserpentes... danceswthcobras December 19 2007, 23:44:12 UTC

Crotalus viridis is very pretty indeed. That is a Malaysian king cobra in this icon; he's a rather vivid shade of orange even for that breed. I am very fond of king cobras.

I've been to AZ chasing medically interesting snake populations for antivenom manufacture, but I like it better here in North Carolina working mostly with the exotic species. How's it been in California?

Re: Sssserpentes... jon_decles February 1 2008, 04:28:10 UTC

I was thinking about you on the road the other day, and the question came into my mind: just how do they turn snake venom into antivenon? I mean, a documentary on TV indicated the antivenon runs about three grand a shot, and you may have to use several shots of the stuff. What do they do, and how does it work, and all that?

I suspect this is a subject of interest to more than just me. Clearly its more complicated than immunization. As an SF writer, this is the sort of thing that pops into my head at weird times.

It's cold up here. I am sure that all the nice snakes are well underground and asleep.

Re: Sssserpentes... danceswthcobras February 1 2008, 21:14:13 UTC

The short form answer is that they extract fractions of specific venoms, inject them into horses or sheep (sometimes even into chickens or eggs) in slowly increasing quantities until the animals are effectively immune, collect the blood of these animals and purify out the specific antibodies.

CroFab antivenom wholesales for around $880 a vial, which means the pharmacies mark it up to a couple grand. Needing 20-30 vials is not uncommon, and over 100 isn't unheard of in a serious bite.

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