Venom extracted from snakes to save thousands of lives in Brazil

In Brazil, thousands of people are bitten every year by venomous snakes. To save their lives antivenom in large quantities from a variety of species is required. Fabiola de Souza and her colleagues at the Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo takes the venom from all the snakes they have in captivity in order to create life-saving anti-venom.

Live saving anti-venom

Venom from the snakes are extracted by massaging the venom glands of the snake to squeeze out the drops of venom. The venom is usually extracted once a month in a process which is very deadly for De Souza and her colleagues. The Butantan institute houses dozens of different species of venomous snakes. This includes the Jararaca that supposedly thrives in Brazil's climate.

After the deadly venom is extracted from the snakes it is sent to health ministries across the country to different medical facilities. According to reports, almost 30,000 people were bitten by venomous snakes in the year 2018 and out of those more than 100 people died according to the official source. In order to ensure the safety of the animal as well as the handler, the snake is put to sleep using carbon dioxide. According to De Souza, this method is less stressful for the animal.

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De Souza also added that it is important to have fear because fear keeps people on their toes and prevents them from making mistakes. The snakes that are kept in the Institute are fed a diet of mice and rats that are bred in the institute. After extracting the venom a small amount is given to horses to trigger a reaction by the immune system that produces antibodies that attack the toxins. Blood is later extracted from the horses and antibodies are harvested into antivenom that is used to save lives.
According to the Butantan project manager, the institute serves as the only source of anti-venom for Brazil and it produces almost 250,000 vials of anti-venom a year. 

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