I live in rattlesnake country. Is it possible to buy antivenom online? If so, where?
Posted by deleted_by_reddit@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 25 comments
[deleted]
DwarvenRedshirt@reddit
As others have mentioned, it's extremely expensive to make, is rarely used nationwide, and doesn't really last long. It's really only an ER/Hospital thing in an area that has a high likelyhood of venomous snakebites.
The general process of making antivenom is: 1) Milk a teensie tiny bit of venom from the snake species you want to create the antivenom for and hope you don't make a mistake and get bitten. 2) Repeat multiple times over a huge number of snakes over time to get a large enough supply to send off. 3) Get a horse (pig/dog/goat/etc. but horses have a lot of blood) and inject a teensie tiny bit of venom (so you don't kill them). Give increasingly larger doses over a year until they have enough antibodies. 4) Take a large amount of blood from them, strip out the plasma and feed the rest back into the critter so it doesn't die. 5) Send off to a lab to extract and purify the specific venom antibody you want. It's a ton of time and work for a small amount of antivenom.
Now, when this is injected in someone, the antibodies will bind with the venom in the blood, neutralizing it. However, if you got injected with a lot of venom, you might need multiple vials of antivenom. So the ER/etc. needs to have enough vials purchased and stored to cover those scenarios, when there may be no one bitten in the area until it expires.
_Serp3nt_@reddit
This begs the question, can I do it to myself to get the antibodies 😂
DwarvenRedshirt@reddit
Yes, but I don't know that you really want to go down that route.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/200-snakebites-later-one-mans-blood-may-hold-the-key-to-a-universal-antivenom-180986595/
man_of_the_banannas@reddit
Antivenom is a) very expensive, b) very specific, and c) quite dangerous. Firmly ER territory, unfortunately.
Sean1916@reddit
I seem to recall an article a year or two ago where a man and his dog got hit by a snake. His Medical bill was thousands of dollars and the dogs was a couple hundred for the same anti venom.
I cannot find the story currently to corroborate this but perhaps someone else can.
Where I’m going with this is perhaps if you can buy it somehow through the veterinarian or their supplier it would be cheaper. Just would have to verify it’s the same thing.
ShotgunPumper@reddit
That's the difference between subsidized prices and non-subsidized prices. When you have to pay for your pets medical bills out of your own pocket, the only animal hospitals that exist are those which charge prices people can afford. When your insurance company pays the bills no matter how high they get for your human-healthcare, you couldn't care less if they charge you 25 cents for that bandaid or $25.
Subsidizing something, be it done publically or privately, always makes prices rise.
BoddAH86@reddit
Only in the US where Big Pharma and private actors own politicians and are powerful enough to dictate the prices to insurance companies.
Universal healthcare in Europe has enough weight to tell pharmaceutical companies to fuck off when they try to pull this kind of stuff.
jimmy1374@reddit
I hate that I can only down vote this commie crap once.
deleted_by_reddit@reddit (OP)
Ah yes, quite the intellectual are we? Denigrating a healthcare system that works more effectively than our own and is proven to work in Europe by calling it "commie crap".
SignatureAny127@reddit
That US education system is really doing work...
ShotgunPumper@reddit
Universal healthcare is the one thing worse than subsidized healthcare prices. In the US healthcare costs an arm and a leg, but you can get it pretty much immediately so long as someone is footing the bill. In Europe if you want necessary treatment fast, such as for cancer, then either you can afford to fly to the US and pay the outrageous prices or you hope you can last long enough for the slow government to eventually schedule your life-saving procedures before you illness advances too far.
BoddAH86@reddit
I live in Belgium and everything you say is just blatantly false. The brainwashing in the US is unreal. I feel sorry for you.
My father received prostate cancer treatment immediately and was rapidly cured. A few years before he received a mechanical heart valve from one of the best surgeons in the field.
Everything basically for free.
My brother has an autoimmune disease and receives a 3K € injectable treatment for free every month.
Universal healthcare is great.
ShotgunPumper@reddit
You had luck, therefore 100% of everyone under government run healthcare will always have luck? So all of the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of horror stories of people living under government run healthcare are full of shit? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2jijuj1ysw
Virtually any time the government runs something it's slow and inefficient because spending other peoples' money doesn't incentivize efficiency.
Congratulations on proving to everyone here that you've put absolutely no thought whatsoever into this topic of your own. This statement definitively proves it. Do you think your fathers doctor did what he did out exclusively out of the kindness of his heart? He wasn't paid a dime for his time? He went to work that day, did what he did, went home, and wasn't compensated whatsoever for it? That's what you think? Pal, he got a paycheck; ask yourself where that paycheck came from. What about all of the medical equipment used? The medication? Did the people who manufactured that equipment and medication go to work and not receive paychecks? Did the companies who created the materials required to make the equipment and medication give away said materials for free?
The government paid for it, which means you paid for it via taxes and inflation. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Americans keep a significantly higher percentage of their income than Europeans do; Europeans keep a tiny portion of what they earned and the rest is taken by the government to subsidize, and therefore increase the cost of, healthcare. Your government is taking significantly more from you in taxes than your healthcare would cost if you paid it out of pocket and there was no subsidizing of healthcare prices.
The other important question you should be asking yourself is how did you come to your position on this topic? You knew, for sure, that government run healthcare was free; clearly you didn't form this opinion on your own or you would have realized that there's no free lunch. That means someone, somewhere decided what you would think on this topic for them. They decide what you will think without you even realizing it.
ZeoVII7@reddit
Do you try to be a stupid a-hole or is that the best you can do?
ShotgunPumper@reddit
You responded to a two year old comment.... with what is essentially "you don't like my politics? UR EVIL THEN!" Good job.
BoddAH86@reddit
Thanks for proving my point about being brainwashed. You sound like a broken record and you obviously have no idea what actual life and standards of living are like in europe.
StormBoring2697@reddit
I've literally had several European friends tell me how horrible the healthcare system is there. Canadian friends, as well. The Canadians seem to believe theirs is worse than any in the EU. USA healthcare is expensive but yes, it is quick to get and insurance will cover a large portion of it, depending on the plan you have.
Miss_Persimmon_Pants@reddit
Good to know, thanks! Glad I asked :)
chimisforbreakfast@reddit
d) spoils rather quickly, even in ideal storage conditions
Icy-Wall993@reddit
Not true. Some last up to five years. Like crofab. It covers cottonmouth, copperhead, and rattlesnake bites.
NatPortmanTaintStank@reddit
Unfortunately, I just read a story in my area that said that after a kid was bitten, his parents had to drive him to multiple hospitals in order to find antivenom.
They had to search and drive to every hospital themselves. The hospitals would not communicate with each other.
This led me to this post. I was also wondering about this.
One-Caterpillar1789@reddit
Get snake boots
brian-stinar@reddit
Yeah, this makes way more sense to spend time on preparing for that your own anti-venom stash. We have rattlesnakes as well (in New Mexico) and everyone wears long boots when they go out. If you can get a dog, it's also a good idea to bring them along, since usually they'll be aware of the snake, and/or get bit first instead of you. I've seen this happen with a dog.
Anti-venom is nasty stuff. I think boots and a dog are the way to go. You could probably even borrow someone's dog, and they'd be happy you took it on a hike.
InfinitySupreme@reddit
"I would like to borrow your dog for a rattlesnake hike to be my rattler attractant, please, sir"
Separate_Ad_5314@reddit
Yes you can buy anti venom but it's pricey