As Antivenin is an immune system-strengthening agent for acute relief against snakebites. The preparation is enriched with antibodies. In this way, the harmful ingredients of the poison in the organism can be neutralized or even eliminated.
What is Antivenin?
Contact with wild animals may not happen too often in this country. For zoologists or biologists, however, contact with snakes and scorpions is possible. Likewise, in the local latitudes, a few species of reptiles living in nature can inject a harmful to health - in very high doses - deadly poison through the bite into the human body.
The antivenin should help against the symptoms that occur as a result. Its components are obtained directly from the venom of snakes and scorpions. The antibodies contained in the serum can bind the harmful toxins in the bloodstream - the administration is usually intravenous. Depending on the shape of the preparation, the enzymes contained in it will also access the nerve cells, organs and blood cells. The possible applications thus reach a broad spectrum.
Pharmacological effect
The antivenin helps through the high number of antibodies bound in the liquid. These are obtained from the poison of the reptiles and then used therapeutically. The desired effect usually occurs after a few minutes.
The entire process in which the toxins are bound by the antibodies and carried out of the organism can take a few hours. The treatment itself may consequently be comparatively simple. But it is more complex to make an individual diagnosis. It is not uncommon for around 300 to 400 different types of poisons to be distinguished in the occupational risk groups. A suitable preparation had to be developed against each of them.
It follows that the antivenin is available on the market in a variety of compositions and dosages. The administration must therefore be carried out by the doctor. Misuse can already cause further health problems for the person concerned or intensify the effect of the poison injected by the snake. Every reptile bite must be examined and treated by a specialist.
Medical application & use
The antivenin is mainly used against snakebites and scorpion stings. Basically, two types of serum have developed. The monovalent antivenin is administered when the species of the reptile is specifically known and only this one species has biting or stabbing.
On the other hand, it can also happen that at the moment the wound was inflicted it was not exactly clear which snake species it was - and whether it is poisonous. In these cases, however, a polyvalent antivenin is injected. He combines the antibodies of several snake and scorpion poisons. It should therefore be possible to bind a greater range of toxins in question.
The effect of the last-mentioned polyvalent agent can, compared to the monovalent antivenin, start with a time lag and thus take significantly longer to remove the toxins. In the further application, a preventive use against certain reptile bites is also conceivable and is carried out especially before traveling to distant countries.
Risks & side effects
When administered, however, the antivenin proves to be not entirely harmless. In principle, it can be rejected by the body and thus itself trigger an allergic reaction in the organism. This is generally recorded as serum sickness and characterizes the condition in which the person concerned reacts negatively to an injected agent.
In a few cases this also results in a state of shock. If left untreated, it can cause death. More often, however, the patient complains of high blood pressure, circulatory collapse or a spontaneously occurring fever. The antivenin is therefore used relatively rarely.
Administration can only take place when there is a clearly definable snake venom, for which further remedies are excluded. In addition to the medical indication, the overall health of the person affected must always be taken into account in order to avoid the aforementioned side effects.
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