From the Kiss of a Cobra: A Sidelong View of Snakebite, Antivenin & Serum Sickness

Abstract

o commanded Shakespeare's Cleopatra to the asp which she clutched at her breast moments before her suicide. In an instant, the deed was done and she soon joined her beloved Antony, thus being spared the indignity of surrendering to Rome. Snake venom is rarely employed in such stoic fashion. The circumstances surrounding most poisonous bites are considerably more traumatic, and doctors and toxicologists have long been intrigued by what venom can do to a person. I recently visited several people whose otherwise divergent careers find common ground on the subject of snakebites. Their accounts provide an enlightening, if not unusual introduction to the many peculiar properties of venom, antivenin and serum sickness. The following narrative is also a brief excursion through an incongruous occupational milieu ranging from biochemistry to smuggling, from serpentariums to private basements, and from the intricacies of immunoglobulins to the sudden need to be rushed to an emergency room. It began with a medical case report titled A King Cobra Bite in New York City (Wetzel & Christy 1989), and its description of what seemed a bizarre and grueling odyssey of symptoms suffered by the victim. Several phone calls later, I was walking down a narrow garden path to meet the nameless 30-year-old male whose misfortun was documented in the report. He introduced himself as Bob.