Informant38

At 85, he has been bitten 162 times -- the latest, by a cobra, three months ago -- by snakes with venom poisonous enough to kill an elephant. Twice, Haast almost died.
But Haast has been injecting himself with snake venom since 1948. He has built up such powerful antibodies in his system that his blood has been used as a snakebite antidote. He began with tiny amounts of rattlesnake venom and built up the dosage over the years. He injects himself once a week with venom from 32 species. He says he is now immune from snakebites. He also believes the snake venom has kept him healthy and holds the potential to help people with multiple sclerosis and other diseases. Except for rare snakebites, he says, ``I've never been sick a day in my life. I've never been to a doctor. I've never had the flu, not even a cold.'' Neither, he says, has he had arthritis, bursitis or any communicable disease. He has never taken medicine, not even aspirin. He looks like a man in his 60s. He walks with a spring in his step and his back ramrod straight. He spends hours each day at his serpentarium in southwest Florida pulling weeds and planting shrubs in a two-acre plot where he hopes to breed snakes. He puts his hands on the 4-foot wall and vaults over.

Tom Wells AP article at cobras.org

Novel protein, Herpoxin, isolated from the venom of Naja n. kaouthia snake having mol. Wt 13.5 kDa, inhibits CPE of HSV-1, HSV-2 and CMV viruses in cell cultures. Herpoxin proved to be a potential therapeutic to treat herpes virus and CMV induced oral and genital lesions including shingles caused by herpes zoster. Its use may be extended to infections caused by other DNA viruses.

P.R. from alternative drug mfr. Binie V. Lipps/Ophidia

In addition to a variety of snakes, there is the black widow spider, the lionfish, the reef stonefish, the emperor scorpion, the Cameroon red tarantula, the cone snail.
This latter, which lives in and around the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, paralyzes its prey, usually fish and other mollusks, by delivering its venom through a kind of harpoon.
It is thought to have killed at least 20 humans in Australia and the Western Pacific.
So what has the cone snail given back?
A painkiller said to be 100 to 1,000 times stronger than morphine. It's called SNX111. It is used in chronic pain treatment. It is not yet on the market.

Richard O'Mara
Killer Cures
Schoolmate Kids Page

It's now believed cobra venom may cure herpes. Which would you prefer?
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It's all in how you say it: If the surgeon tells you the operation saves the lives of six out of 10 patients, you may well OK it. But if you're told it results in the deaths of four out of 10 patients, you'll probably turn it down.

L.M.Boyd