The High-Stakes Quest to Make Snakebites Survivable Took ...

What’s Happening

Alright so A wave of fresh science is challenging a century-old treatment and offering hope to the people snakebites harm most—often far from hospitals and help The High-Stakes Quest to Make Snakebites Survivable Took Leaps Forward This Year, With Promising New Avenues to Safer Antivenoms A wave of fresh science is challenging a century-old treatment and offering hope to the people snakebites harm most—often far from hospitals and help Victoria Malloy Get our !

A rinkhals ( Hemachatus haemachatus ) in Hluhluwe, South Africa, performs a threat display. These snakes tend to live on the edges of human communities. (shocking, we know)

Beata Whitehead via Neville Wolmarans knows the dangers of snake venom all too well.

The Details

He vividly recalls his first black mamba bite, in 1971. With a reputation as one of the world’s most feared snakes, the mamba has a bite capable of killing a person in under an hour if left untreated.

For Wolmarans, the experience was terrifying. After more than an hour of intense pain from a single fang puncture, his body ultimately pulled through without medical intervention—a sign that it was likely an insufficient envenomation, or a “dry bite.

Why This Matters

” But not everyone is so fortunate. What he remembers most is the strange euphoria that followed. In that moment, he could “actually laugh and feel absolutely alive and invincible,” he says.

This could have implications for future research in this area.

The Bottom Line

Neurotoxic venom targets the nervous system, blocking nerve signals and often causing paralysis or respiratory failure. Other venoms might target cells or muscles or cause a combination of hemotoxic and neurotoxic effects.

How do you feel about this development?