Antivenom is so expensive, why are people still willing to fight?

Although antivenom is expensive, it is extremely cost-effective, and it is a special drug for snake venom, without which you may die. Spend a few hundred dollars to save your life, do you still think it's expensive? (*

The reasons why antivenom is expensive in China are: small demand, high production cost, and relatively short shelf life. Few enterprises produce antivenom because it is not profitable at all and needs national policy support and subsidies.

It seems that there is only one company in China that produces antivenom, but in Shanghai, it is really a conscientious enterprise.

The reasons why hospitals are rarely equipped with antivenom are also due to the low demand, the high cost of the drug itself, and the relatively short shelf life. Therefore, the vast majority of hospitals equipped with antivenom are eventually disposed of because the serum has expired, resulting in great waste.

Therefore, many hospitals now do not have antivenom, and hospitals that can be equipped with serum are very commendable! Different types of antivenom range from 280 yuan to 530 yuan per bottle. These are monovalent antivenoms that contain only one antibody, called monovalent antivenom; Antivenom serums that contain two or more antibodies to snake venom are more expensive.

There are many types of venomous snakes, and one antivenom can only be one snake venom, so it is impossible for any hospital to have all antivenoms.

The serum is extracted from the real snake venom, and it is extracted after being injected into the horse, not directly synthesized as you think, so the cost is already very high, it must be expensive, and some snakes will die if they don't play the serum.

Because horses are larger, it is easier to control the amount of toxins injected and to produce more antibodies. Compared to cattle, horse serum is cleaner, so it has become the main animal chosen by humans to make antivenom.

Cattle, sheep and pigs are cloven-hoofed animals, and the cost of extracting serum is theoretically lower. Among herbivores, artiodactyls are a more well-evolved species than odd-hoofed animals. They have multiple stomachs, have the ability to regurgitate, and digest plants more thoroughly, so they are more widely distributed in nature.

But this also brings a problem, the probability of getting sick is relatively high.

According to modern scientific discoveries and some views of biological evolution, viruses or pathogens targeting a certain species are not innate, but are produced by a harmless virus mutation during the evolution of the species, and then survive in the interaction with the internal environment of the infected animal. Yersinia pestis, for example, evolved from pseudotuberculosis bacteria in the stomach and intestines of animals. Artiodactyls are widely distributed, so they are more likely to be infected by viruses or germs.

As a result, artiodactyls have a greater variety of diseases than horses and other odd hoofs. Foot-and-mouth disease, for example, is a zoonotic disease, but it does not work in horses. Therefore, the ** that uses horses as the serum is cleaner than that of cattle.

The only problem is that horses are more picky about feed, and the cost of breeding is relatively high.

Antivenom is extracted from snakes. Antivenom is the extraction of an appropriate amount of toxin from the snake for post-processing to resist the venom, similar to the principle of vaccines. It takes several months to produce a serum, and one snake is one serum, and pit viper serum cannot be mixed with five-step snake serum.

Antivenom is a biological agent that is generally valid for two to three years, so the drug price is high.

Expensive antivenom is actually a "just in case", it saves lives if it is used, and it is not needed, not only must it be stored at low temperature, but it will be discarded after a few years.

Because the role of snake venom is to neutralize the toxin by using the specific antibodies produced in the serum to snake venom, and the antibodies themselves need snake venom to enter the body to trigger specific immunity. Snakes have snake venom, but they do not have antibodies themselves, and it is not economical to use snakes to produce antibodies, so they do not obtain antivenom from snakes.

Because the venom of the snake is only in a special place on the teeth where the venom is stored, not in the rest of the body.

Antivenom is to inject a certain amount of snake venom into the horse after attenuation and other operations, and produce globulin antibodies through horse immunization, and after the antibody reaches a certain effective amount, the horse blood is extracted, and the serum is prepared through a specific production process, that is, antivenom.

Antivenom contains specific antibodies, which have the effect of neutralizing the corresponding snake venom, and are used in the diagnosis and treatment of snakebites. After the bite, this product should be injected quickly, the sooner the better, usually intravenous injection, can also be intramuscular or subcutaneous injection, completed at one time.

It should be an antidote drug made from antigens extracted from animals that have been bitten by snakes, and injection of snake venom for a certain period of time after being bitten by a venomous snake can dissolve snake venom (the earlier it is used after poisoning, the greater the chance of survival).

Refined antivenom is a colorless or light yellow clear liquid, which is a special preparation for the corresponding venomous snake bite. If you are bitten by a snake, you should inject the corresponding serum in time.