Poison that Cures? The Healing Wonders of Snake Venom

Snake Bites

Bites from venomous snakes, cobras, rattlesnakes, pit vipers, cottonmouth water moccasin, you name it could only take minutes to show its adverse effects. First a severe burning pain and swelling will appear on the bitten part. Then almost simultaneously, a severe drop in blood pressure or paralysis that causes one to collapse, and have extensive bleeding everywhere in the body with major bruising spreading from the bitten area, then blood would start to come out from the nose and mouth. Without medical attention, one could die. So who could have better ideas to imagine that a bite that could kill will ultimately have its end purpose to preserve life? Until recently however, medical researchers zeroed in to these snakes' bite effects to humans that they thought of something that will turn out to be a breakthrough in medicine. Milking venomous snakes for their venom and testing it in small doses turned out to be something beneficial. Let me introduce you to some of the world's deadliest snakes which turned out to be our dreaded benefactors whose venom could offer us a new lease of life.

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Southern Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix)

The fibrinolytic enzyme from southern copperhead snake venom, fibrolase, has a potential to control blood clots in stroke victims. Commonly found in Southern Delaware and Maryland, south to extreme north central Florida, west to southeast Missouri, se. Oklahoma, and east Texas the Southern Copperhead have a reputation for having a beautiful appearance and a nasty disposition.

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African Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)

The paralyzing effects of the venom of African Black Mamba can be so powerful that bites from this snake could topple giraffes, lions and kill a person in 20 minutes. The proteins from this snake's venom however proves very promising in designing drugs for a wide range of neurological disorders. Diseases like asthma, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and certain pain disorders would someday be of less concern when drugs from this research is processed.

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Malayan Pit Viper(Calloselasma rhodostoma)

This type of snake is a medium-sized venomous ground snake of tropical Southeast Asia. It inhabits forest edges from Vietnam, to Myanmar (Burma) and southward through peninsular Malaysia to the islands of Sumatra and Java. Adults are just under 3 feet (1 meter) long. The medical potential of this snake’s venom first came to attention in the 1960’s, when treated patients bit by the snake at Penang General Hospital in Malaya was known to foster bleeding, thus a doctor thought it might contain something that could be used to treat troublesome blood clots. As a result, ancrod called after the protein from this snake's venom had been observed to dissolve the blood clots that cause stroke for as long as 6 hours after stroke symptoms start. Ancrod can also prevent new blood clots from forming results of the study show.

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Brazilian Pit Viper (Bothrops moojeni )

Locally called the "jararaca" has the same fatal effects when bites an unsuspecting victim but one of the first widely used drugs to treat high blood pressure owes its origin to the proteins found in the venom of this snake. This started when workers in banana plantations of southwestern Brazil were known to collapse suddenly after being bitten by this snake due to a drastic drop in blood pressure. Curious about what exactly this venom does to the body, Brazilian and British researchers studied its effects in animals. These scientists discovered a protein in the venom that blocked the action of a compound called angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), which the body uses to keep blood pressure at the right level.

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Rattlesnake (Crotalus cerastes)

Venomous snakes belonging to genera Crotalus and Sistrurus are called rattlesnakes. They primarily got their name from the rattling sound produced by their tail and usually includes pit vipers. They are known to strike at distances up to two-thirds their body length and their venom can kill in 20 seconds. The good side is a modified venom protein called eptifibatide which has been used in the late 90's for minor heart attacks and chest pains.

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African Saw Scaled Viper (Echis ocellatus)

This type of snake when aroused, will coil and twist, rubbing its serrated scales against each other to create a sound similar to that of a saw cutting wood and it is this characteristic noise that gave it its name. Systemic envenomation by the saw-scaled viper is responsible for more deaths than any other snake in West Africa. Bites would start in blistering, necrosis and sometimes life-threatening systemic haemorrhage. But don't dread at what this snake could do to you, tirofiban is based on a venom protein from the African saw-scaled viper and have been used since 1998 to treat people having minor heart attacks or those with chest pain indicating they are likely to suffer a heart attack.