# Antivenom question !



## adam567265 (May 28, 2009)

Do you DWA keepers keep your own antivenom ?

were do you get it from and what sort of cost is it ?

im not into keeping venemous snakes or thinking about trying but ive never seen antivenom in boots


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## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

Generally speaking, from what I understand:

No, venomous keepers in the UK would not generally (if ever) be keeping any stock of antivenin. Antivenom isn't exactly a safe drug to take; some folks have very, very nasty reactions to it, so it has to be administered under the supervision of a trained medical professional.

As such, you wouldn't really be buying it - in the 'States, I know things like Crofab are quoted as multiple hundreds - into the thousands - per vial, and some envenomations have required ten or more vials. 

I don't know - and could someone who does know please enlighten me - whether it is even possible or legal for a private individual in the UK to purchase antivenom?


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## stuartdouglas (Mar 5, 2008)

It is perfectly legal to purchase antivenin in the UK, you can buy SAIMR polyvalent antivenin direct from the manufacturers in SA. It's not a controlled or prescrition drug, so it's legal to own although next to useless if you were to buy it a) because it needs to be administered via IV, so unless you can fit a cannula to yourself, you're screwed, b) it can have very nasty side effects, so unless you have medical care at home, you're screwed, c) I doubt that there are any doctors who would administer a drug that a patient bought in with them, so you could get to hospital and still be screwed.

CroFab, last time I looked was about $1500 for two vials, the starting point for an envenomation is five vials and some bad bites have needed twenty-five vials to treat successfully.......... about £12K for a bad bite, I don't know of many, if any, keepers that have a spare 12K to keep enough AV in the fridge for a bad rattler bite, just in case


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## mrgrumpy (Jun 19, 2010)

Look at The Prescription Only Medicines (Human Use) Order 1997, 



> *7.* The restriction imposed by section 58(2)(b) (restriction on administration) shall not apply to the administration to human beings of any of the following medicinal products for parenteral administration–
> ....
> Snake Venom Antiserum
> ....
> where the administration is for the purpose of saving life in an emergency.


Whilst its legal for anyone to administer anyone else with anti venom (interesting listed as just 'snake' but I would say you could stretch it to anything DWA) its not particularly sensible. The only time I could ever forsee it would be you've taken a hit from your beloved DWA species, you are stranded in 2' of snow, 50 miles from the hospital, doctor/ambulance get to you and you are in serious trouble - they administer it, as anything in that sort of situation is better than nothing.


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## bloodpython22 (Feb 19, 2010)

stuartdouglas said:


> It is perfectly legal to purchase antivenin in the UK, you can buy SAIMR polyvalent antivenin direct from the manufacturers in SA. It's not a controlled or prescrition drug, so it's legal to own although next to useless if you were to buy it a) because it needs to be administered via IV, so unless you can fit a cannula to yourself, you're screwed, b) it can have very nasty side effects, so unless you have medical care at home, you're screwed, c) I doubt that there are any doctors who would administer a drug that a patient bought in with them, so you could get to hospital and still be screwed.
> 
> CroFab, last time I looked was about $1500 for two vials, the starting point for an envenomation is five vials and some bad bites have needed twenty-five vials to treat successfully.......... about £12K for a bad bite, I don't know of many, if any, keepers that have a spare 12K to keep enough AV in the fridge for a bad rattler bite, just in case


 agreed !!! although i do no 1 keeper that keeps av if he still does for his kings, dont no of any others tho


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## LlamaLlama (Oct 30, 2009)

does this mean that all hospitals keep a wide range of antivenoms??
how quickley is it needed? or do they just oder it when theyve found someone needing it???


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## Spuddy (Aug 24, 2009)

LlamaLlama said:


> does this mean that all hospitals keep a wide range of antivenoms??
> how quickley is it needed? or do they just oder it when theyve found someone needing it???


 
not all hospitals keep it i believe, and i think the main hospital for treating venom bites in the UK is in Liverpool which stock the anti venom.


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