Post by Trix on Aug 25, 2015 0:15:53 GMT -5
Anti-venom flown out of Kentucky to help Michigan snake bite victim
Posted: Sat 2:38 PM, Aug 22, 2015
By: Garrett Wymer
MOUNT STERLING, Ky. (WKYT) - Workers at the Kentucky Reptile Zoo in Powell County were asked on Friday to provide anti-venom for a snake bite victim in Michigan.
They say the man was bitten by his pet African Bush Viper.
A plane took off from Traverse City, Mich. on Friday afternoon, and flew to the Mount Sterling-Montgomery County Airport to pick up the anti-venom, so it could be flown back to Michigan.
The curator of the Kentucky Reptile Zoo says she received a call from a doctor in Michigan, looking for the anti-venom.
"It can be very difficult to have appropriate medicine to treat a snake bite when the snake originates in Africa, and you're in Michigan," said Curator Kristen Wiley.
There is no specific anti-venom for bush vipers, but the zoo did have some for a saw-scaled viper, Wiley said. That anti-venom has helped treat previous bites from bush vipers, she said.
"There's similarity in the components of the venom between the two kinds of snakes," Wiley said. "So this is of course antibodies against the toxins in the venom from the saw-scaled vipers, so if the toxin in the bush viper is somewhat similar then there's a good chance that the antibody will work to neutralize that as well."
You won't find the anti-venom on any store shelves, however. Wiley said the zoo gets it from South Africa, where the serum is made. She said the zoo is one of only a handful of places in the country that has it, which is why they were the closest place that could help.
The plane carrying the serum landed back in Michigan late Friday afternoon. It was at the Montgomery County airport just long enough to get the package of the anti-venom on ice, taking off again just moments after landing.
A local TV station in Grand Rapids told WKYT that the hospital where the patient was staying would not say how the man responded to the treatment.
Wiley says the Kentucky Reptile Zoo has the anti-venom because saw-scaled vipers are kept there. The viper venom is used for medical research.
www.wkyt.com/wymt/home/headlines/Anti-venom-flown-out-of-Kentucky-to-help-Michigan-snake-bite-victim-322553372.html
Posted: Sat 2:38 PM, Aug 22, 2015
By: Garrett Wymer
MOUNT STERLING, Ky. (WKYT) - Workers at the Kentucky Reptile Zoo in Powell County were asked on Friday to provide anti-venom for a snake bite victim in Michigan.
They say the man was bitten by his pet African Bush Viper.
A plane took off from Traverse City, Mich. on Friday afternoon, and flew to the Mount Sterling-Montgomery County Airport to pick up the anti-venom, so it could be flown back to Michigan.
The curator of the Kentucky Reptile Zoo says she received a call from a doctor in Michigan, looking for the anti-venom.
"It can be very difficult to have appropriate medicine to treat a snake bite when the snake originates in Africa, and you're in Michigan," said Curator Kristen Wiley.
There is no specific anti-venom for bush vipers, but the zoo did have some for a saw-scaled viper, Wiley said. That anti-venom has helped treat previous bites from bush vipers, she said.
"There's similarity in the components of the venom between the two kinds of snakes," Wiley said. "So this is of course antibodies against the toxins in the venom from the saw-scaled vipers, so if the toxin in the bush viper is somewhat similar then there's a good chance that the antibody will work to neutralize that as well."
You won't find the anti-venom on any store shelves, however. Wiley said the zoo gets it from South Africa, where the serum is made. She said the zoo is one of only a handful of places in the country that has it, which is why they were the closest place that could help.
The plane carrying the serum landed back in Michigan late Friday afternoon. It was at the Montgomery County airport just long enough to get the package of the anti-venom on ice, taking off again just moments after landing.
A local TV station in Grand Rapids told WKYT that the hospital where the patient was staying would not say how the man responded to the treatment.
Wiley says the Kentucky Reptile Zoo has the anti-venom because saw-scaled vipers are kept there. The viper venom is used for medical research.
www.wkyt.com/wymt/home/headlines/Anti-venom-flown-out-of-Kentucky-to-help-Michigan-snake-bite-victim-322553372.html