OUCH!

[Tom Treks]

Snakebite serum was in short supply

Beth DeFalco
Associated Press
Oct. 23, 2003 12:00 AM


After years of shortages, the company that makes snakebite antivenin said hospitals will receive twice as much of the serum as they did last year.

Hospitals hope the increase will replenish their supplies of the serum, depleted after the original antivenin manufacturer, Wyeth, stopped making the product.

No agency tracks how much serum hospitals have in stock. But some major hospitals in Arizona, Nevada, Southern California and Utah, all prime rattlesnake country, say they nearly ran out.

"It was the worst last summer," Dr. Paul Wax said. "We got by but barely."

Wax works in the medical toxicology department at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, the Phoenix area's only poison control center. The hospital treats about 60 poisonous bites a year.

Wax said that at times over the past few years the trauma center had only enough serum to treat one or two patients.

No one is known to have died because of the shortage. In fact, death is a rare occurrence since an antivenin was developed 50 years ago.

The treatment isn't cheap. Each vial costs about $1,000, and it takes six to 12 vials to treat a snakebite, said Russell LaMontagne, a spokesman for Fougera, which makes the antivenin.

This year, Fougera shipped 31,370 vials of the serum.

Because of the price and the relative infrequency of snakebites, not all hospitals carry antivenin.

When Fougera began production in 2000, Wyeth left the market.

[paintninaz]

[Daryl]

The serum is usually the best treatment for a bite, but there are other ways to treat it if it's not available.
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