|
Brown
Snake Anti-Venom
A
new anti-venom created by Australian scientists will
save the lives of many animals.
Deadly,
mate!
It’s
just as well Australia is such a stunningly beautiful country
because Australians, with their laconic sense of humour, love to
shock tourists with stories about the deadly creatures that share
their shores. You’re
likely to hear about the sharks patrolling the beautiful beaches,
dark and deadly funnel-web spiders, protected and lethal
crocodiles and the snakes … !
|
Attack
life, it's going to kill you anyway.
Steven
Coallier
|
One
Small Bite
The
Australian Brown Snake is the second most deadly snake in the
world. One 1/14,000
of an ounce of its venom can kill a human being.
"It
is responsible for 75 per cent of bites to animals and humans. The
neurotoxin in brown snake venom is the strongest toxin known to
science."
Peter
Mirtschin, Venom Supplies
Between
6,000 and 7,000 animals die due to the Brown Snake’s bite every
year, and many of the fatalities are working dogs – timely to
train, expensive to replace … not to mention the heartache. The good news is that due to the dedication of a small group
of people, there will soon be anti-venom to save many of these
animals.
Peter
Mirtschin’s “Venom Supplies” supplies freeze-dried venom,
from over 400 different deadly snakes, to interested research
units around the world. A
few years ago, Peter began collaborating with Dr Tim Kuchel and
his team at IMVS (Australia’s Institute of Medical and
Veterinary Science).
What
do sheep and chicken have in common?
Sheep
have been used, for a long time, to produce brown snake antivenom.
The sheep are injected, with small amounts of the poison,
until they build up a natural resistance.
Blood is then taken from the sheep, and the anti-bodies
from the blood are then turned into antivenom.
This antivenom helps but it does not help enough – it
doesn’t stop the blood clotting effect of the brown snake’s
venom.
The
IMVS team decided to add another creature into the antivenom
equation and chickens have proved to be just right.
Chickens don’t seem to be effected by brown snake venom,
yet they still create antibodies in their bodies from slow, small
injections of venom … just like sheep.
The wonderful addition is that their antibodies reverse the
blood clotting effect … and no blood need be used because the
antibodies are in their eggs.
"What's
clever about the chook is that every 26 hours they deliver you a
beautiful sterile little package called the yolk."
Tim
Kuchel, Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science
The
antibodies from the chickens is mixed with the antibodies from the
sheep and creates a very effective solution.
Hopefully the new drug will be on the market by Christmas.
More
information: Institute
of Medical and Veterinary Science
Which Came First?
Hendershot, Ray
Buy this Art Print at AllPosters.com
Reviews
(applause received) 
Be
the first to review this article - click here.
|
