From Arndt von Hippel
In “Snakebite antidote without the venom” you note that “metalloprotease enzymes… make the venom deadly” (10 June, p 20). Has anyone considered immediately injecting the snakebite site with a safe metalloprotease inhibitor like tetracycline? Such an injectable could be widely distributed at minimal cost as part of a basic first aid kit.
Debora MacKenzie writes:
• Jose Maria Gutiérrez at the University of Costa Rica has used local injection of a metalloprotease inhibitor, though not tetracycline, to prevent tissue damage in snakebite, and recommends more such experiments, as many relevant inhibitors have been developed for other disorders (PLoS Medicine, vol 6, p 727).
Anchorage, Alaska
