Snake therapy

Kakrani AL. Rationale of anti snake venom therapy. Randomised trials or clinical judgement. J Assoc Physicians India 1999 47(4) 367-8. 

Pentastomum denticulatum is the final larva of the nasal worm Linguatula serrata. The adult parasites (4-5 mm long) live in the nasal cavities and respiratory tracts of carnivorous animals and snakes. Infection is transmitted through oral ingestion of the eggs with subsequent development of the larvae in the small intestine. They travel via the portal vein to the liver, where they encyst and form hard, yellow nodules of ca. 3 mm in diameter. Histology reveals fibrous alterations as well as granulomatous infiltrates fine calcifications can occasionally be detected. No therapy is known. 

Venomous snakes and venom have always been of interest to biologists. Historically, snake venoms were viewed as a valuable aid and were frequently used in early medical therapies. Ancient Egyptian and Chinese physicians utilized snake venoms as treatment for a variety of ailments and diseases. For over a century, snake venom has been used to develop antivenoms to treat snakebite envenomation. Currently, there are over 30 facilities worldwide that produce 120 different commercially available antivenoms. These antivenoms include both monovalent forms (effective for a specific species) and polyvalent forms (generally effective for several species that occur... 

Specific phobias are perhaps the most familiar of the anxiety disorders, and are char-, acterized by a disproportionate fear of an object (e.g., spider, snake) or situation (e.g., flying, receiving an injection). When the stimulus is confronted it elicits an intense anxiety reaction, which the sufferer recognizes to be excessive but is unable to moderate. Prophylactic use of anxiolytics for predictably stressful situations is helpful, but in the longterm, medication is less successful than behavioral therapy in the treatment of specific phobias. 

Injectable products are sterile liquid drug preparations that are administered parenterally, i.e. introduced into the patient s body through the skin. Although injections are a relatively recent form of therapy, the history of the development of the technique can be traced back to the early seventeenth century. William Harvey described the circulation of blood in 1616, and later attributed death caused by snake bites to the distribution of the poison throughout the body via the blood. 

The most common manifestation of serious envenomation is convulsions When a victim of a serious envenomation reaches the hospital, the most effective therapy is prompt administration of snake antivenin All of the above are correct... 

Snakebite Coral snake antivenin (equine) crotalid antivenin (equine) Treatment also need antitetanus therapy... 

Anticoagulant therapy in recent years has involved the use of either heparin or the oral anticoagulants, coumarln and indandione derivatives, on venous thrombosis. The only newer agents with clinical potential appear to be several snake venoms or venom fractions which act either through defibrlnogenatlon or inhibition of prothrombin activation. 

---