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USA Today press release, bad publicity for us
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by ChuckHurd on November 16, 2007
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USA TODAY (McLean, Virginia) 04 November 07 U.S. surge in exotic snakes rattles some (Oren Dorell)
Bitten by an African green mamba, a 47-year-old man at Indianapolis' Methodist Hospital was having difficulty speaking and problems moving his eyes and legs.
Emergency room physician Mary Wermuth had no anti-venin to help the man, whose rare pet snake was among the world's deadliest. Wermuth immediately went to her computer and consulted the online Anti-venom Index to find the nearest source of an antidote.
"It was a couple of taps at the keyboard and we found it was at the local zoo," she said.
The member-controlled index went online in 2006, connecting hospitals with rare anti-venins. But now the program faces new challenges.
An influx of exotic snakes into the United States, coupled with a drugmaker's decision to stop making anti-venin for a snake found throughout the South, is putting pressure on toxicologists who try to prevent painful deaths by snake bite.
Last month, several U.S. toxicologists met in New Orleans to make plans to revamp the anti-venin index to monitor snake bites occurring by type and region. Doing so could help place anti-venin where non-native snakes — often kept illegally as pets — are prevalent.
Bites from non-native snakes — often more lethal than native snakes' bites — are rare but on the rise. In 1996, there were 33 such bites; in 2004, the latest year for which statistics are available, there were 52, says Steven Seifert, a physician who recently received a $375,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to improve the Anti-venom Index. Among those biting victims, three died.
Most hospitals stock anti-venin for snakes prevalent nearby. But anti-venin for foreign species, such as cobras, boomslangs and green mambas, often is kept only at zoos housing such species, he says.
An additional 50 to 75 people are bitten by coral snakes every year. Wyeth Pharmaceuticals announced in 2003 it was going to stop making the antidote in part because demand was small. But it has stocks remaining for at least a year, according to company spokeswoman Natalie deVane.
That presents another problem for the Anti-venom Index. Jay Schauben, director of the Florida-U.S. Virgin Islands Poison Information Center in Jacksonville, said hospital supplies across the country are now expiring and "almost impossible to find."
The search is on for a suitable replacement, said George Van Horn, owner of Reptile World Serpentarium in St. Cloud, Fla. This week, Van Horn will begin experiments with the University of Florida on whether hospitals can use anti-venin from Mexican and Costa Rican coral snakes to treat bites from coral snakes here.
But a wider problem for hospitals, and the Anti-venom Index, could be how to prepare for snakes that communities don't know are there.
Jude McNally, managing director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center, said cases of snake bites are not being reported to a central authority.
"When we go to treat (victims of snake bites), we're not addressing the issue of reporting this to anyone," McNally said. "Our emphasis is to treat the patient."
No one knows how many exotic snakes are in the country, McNally said.
The federal government does not monitor how many venomous snakes are brimported the United States because there are no federal restrictions on their importation, said Sandy Cleva, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service law enforcement division.
Half of states require permits for the possession of non-native venomous snakes, according to a survey conducted by Ray Hunter, a Florida snake importer and researcher who posted the information to his website, cobraman.net.
McNally, whose state of Arizona requires a permit for exotic species of snake, said he and others believe there are significant numbers of snakes being obtained illegally from importers and breeders.
The laws don't seem to be much of an impediment, said Walter Cook, captive-wildlife coordinator for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, who participated in a nine-month investigation into venomous reptile traffickers.
Cook said his investigation netted more than 100 poisonous snakes, about half of which were non-U.S. species. Most were bought from U.S. breeders and most purchases were conducted on the Internet and at reptile shows in states where sales are legal. Sellers ship snakes to airports in states where permits are not required, Cook said.
"No one's slacked off on importing," said Hunter, who legally imported 2,500 snakes last year.
Ten days ago, one of Hunter's snakes provided a frightening lesson in the dangers of reptiles as pets; an eastern diamondback rattlesnake bit him.
On Sunday, Hunter's condition was upgraded from critical condition to stable at St. Lucie Medical Center where he has undergone anti-venin treatment and surgery.
"It's just like any job hazard," said his associate Ray Goushaw, president of St. Lucie Regional Herpetological Society. "It's when you become complacent that you have a problem."
Bits Of Advice
Medical experts are working to make antidote more widely available for people bitten by non-native breeds of snakes, such as cobras or green mambas. Some facts about exotic snake bites, 1999-2004:
Who's most often bitten and where (based on almost 400 bites reported between 1995 and 2004):
• 85% adult
• 84% male
• 76% inside their own homes
• 11.5% at workplace, school or zoo
• 4.5% at another residence
Sources: Steven Seifert, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Army
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RE: USA Today press release, bad publicity for us
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by ChuckHurd on November 16, 2007
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i don't want to be a chicken little here, but nation wide bad publicity like this could be the beginning of the end for us. if the feds get involved, the end result will most likely be a nation wide ban on keeping venomous. i have no idea why USA Today felt this was news worthy. Ray's bite couldn't have came at a worse time.
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RE: USA Today press release, bad publicity for us
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by LarryDFishel on November 16, 2007
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Well, note that among other things they conveniently left out, they had to go back almost a year to find another bad example (yet suggest that it is part of some sudden surge).
The story of a 47-year-old bitten by a green mamba in Indiana may sound familiar to many here.
Basically the kind of story I expect form USA Today...
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RE: USA Today press release, bad publicity for us
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by Buzztail1 on November 16, 2007
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I think that the article was artfully done.
Yes, I for one, recognize the Indiana issue.
The article was already in the works when Ray got bit.
It was to be an article on the (non)availability of antivenin.
The central issue of the article got buried in the rest of the facts and figures. Coral Snake (not an exotic) antivenin remaining from Wyeth goes out of date next year (fact). An estimated (due to no central database) 50 to 75 people are bitten by Coral Snakes each year (purported fact - I believe this estimate to be way high). Bioclon and other (Tiger Snake antivenin) antivenins are being tested for viable use in the case of Coral Snake bites (fact). The FDA is involved in clinical tests to approve the use of Bioclon Coral Snake antivenin in the U.S. (fact).
All the rest of the article does is point out that some people illegally keep venomous snakes. It also points out that making keeping them illegal had no apparent affect (fact). You and I (and everyone else)personally know or have known people who have kept venomous reptiles illegally. I believe that the mamba incident referenced is just one such incident.
So, does this call for new laws?
Why would we need new laws since there are already laws in place that aren't stopping people in the first place?
The article is already two weeks old and the most interest I have heard about it so far was from my two co-workers whose picture accompanied the article.
It is not even close to as bad as some of the articles that have appeared in the past year.
Just my opinion (might be sour grapes since they didn't use my picture) ;-)
Karl
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RE: USA Today press release, bad publicity for us
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by Rob_Carmichael on November 17, 2007
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I agree too. Although it doesn't help the cause for private ownership, we see these articles pop up on a regular basis. Laws are already fairly stringent across the U.S. - strict permit procedures would certainly help but it won't stop the shady folks from breaking the law (but it would provide an avenue for responsible people to keep them w/out worry).
There also needs to be better communication between private individuals, zoological institutions (who typically carry the burden of providing A/V), and medical facilities. Folks who keep hots should have some arrangements with their nearest hospital or zoo to get a/v assuming they don't keep it themselves.
I actually found a positive in the article. I would love to see Bioclon get FDA approval here in the U.S. Our facility would love to be able to keep it and get access to it at a much lower cost than what we get now.
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RE: USA Today press release, bad publicity for us
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by LarryDFishel on November 17, 2007
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>> I think that the article was artfully done.
You're speaking from a position of already knowing a lot of the things that they left out.
For instance, note that they don't mention that the guy bitten by the green mamba was keeping it illegally, or that all his snakes have been confiscated already.
But yes, I have certainly seen much worse...just usually in local papers that don't go nation-wide except among us... But USA Today spreads like the plague...
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RE: USA Today press release, bad publicity for us
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by FLherp on November 18, 2007
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Rob & Karl,
I believe that clinical trials are under way in the Southwest for Antivipmyn (Phase II), and there is research being done concerning the efficacy of Bioclon's Coralmyn as an alternative to Wyeth North American Coral Snake Antivenin, however, that does not mean that Solanis Labs has sought FDA approval for Coralmyn at this time. FDA approval is an arduous process and requires Phase I, II and III efficacy trials - used to determine basic properties, safety profile in humans, etc. Total time from New Drug Application to Phase I to Phase III to drug approval is approximately nine years. Add to this the costs of complying with workplace standards, etc. and the costs may be prohibitive. It may not transalate into any cost savings either. Only 100 potential patients a year (see below).
In the Southeast there are about 100 Coral Snake bites reported annually. 60 of them in Florida. Some of these may be misidentifications, but there is no definitive way to rule out a Coral Snake in these circumstances (it is usually based on an identification by the patient or witnesses). Further, antivenom is often administered prior to the onset of symptoms, as once they develop they can be more difficult to reverse. Without symptoms can we really be sure that the patient was bitten by a Coral Snake?
Back to the subject, I know that many people subscribe to the idea that no publicity is bad publicity, but I think this belongs in the bad publicity bin. However, with respect to this hobby I tend to think that no publicity is good publicity.
Jeff
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RE: USA Today press release, bad publicity for us
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by vanerka on November 20, 2007
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How is this bad publicity???? Did you read the article... They were stressing the fact that people are being bitten by venomous snakes more and more on a yearly basis... Plus notice how at the end they use percentages at the end of the article, they didn't use number of people out of number of people bitten because those number are too low to shock anybody... Also another thing I like is that they don't show the number of permitted venomous owners across the us compared to the number of people bitten... And as it was previously said they had to show # of bites since 1995 because otherwise the numbers would have been astoundingly low... So long story short this article has provided one sided views of a particular subject (not uncommon of media).
Thanks Eric
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RE: USA Today press release, bad publicity for us
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by Kingetula on November 20, 2007
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It does say 400 people were bitten from 95 to 2004. Assuming most people who read the USA Today have a 5th grade education or above…
Who's most often bitten and where (based on almost 400 bites reported between 1995 and 2004):
• 85% adult
• 84% male
• 76% inside their own homes
• 11.5% at workplace, school or zoo
• 4.5% at another residence
400 bites in 9 years comes out to 44.5 (45 people) people a year are bitten.
38 are Adults and 7 are under 18 years old
37 are men 8 are women
The total below doesn’t add up to the 45 people I came up with because the true figure is less than 400. USA does state the following, “based on almost 400 bites”. THE TRUE FIGURE IS about 369 people.
34 inside their own homes
5 at workplace, school or zoo
2 at another residence
So 41 people are bitten a year (Average of 9 years)
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