OCR Text |
Show f ' , . v.- :: .-. v ..- 'i , f , s , I the vaccine on himself has shown no ill effects, and th3 level of antibodies in his blood remains high after more than a year. The researchers are als working on an antivenim th: serum given to victims after they are bitten by poisonous snakes that will be less likely to produce allergic reactions. Antivenom new on the market is derived from the blood of horses that have been injected with snake venom, but many people are allergic to it. The serum developed by the "U" research team is taken from the blood of humans who have suffered natural snakebite?. When the new vaccine is perfected per-fected for humans, the anti-venin anti-venin can also be derived from the blood of persons that have been vaccinated, according to Jr. Snyder. The vaccine comes from pure venom that is extracted from several species of snakes kept at the VA Hospital's animal research re-search facility by the researchers. research-ers. The venom is purified and its severe toxic characteristics removed by a special process. When the toxoid is injected into animals it still produces the desired antibodies without destroying tissue. I I Fifteen dogs received vaccinations vacci-nations during clinical tests last summer, Mr. Hunter said. All 15 dogs, when later challenged chal-lenged by double lethal doses of pure rattlesnake venom survived sur-vived with only slight soreness ; and minor swelling at the in-I in-I jection sites. Though each dog ' received much more venom i than a snake would deliver in a natural bite, the animals showed only minor discomfort. Dr. Snyder said there is still much to be learned before be-fore the vaccine can be made available for human use, but he foresees no insurmountable I obstacle in achieving this goal. WATCH IT! Rattlesnake extends ex-tends fangs like this before it strikes. Researchers Induce the poisonous serpents to bite specially prepared beaker so venom can be collected. I SNAKEBITE VACCINE DEVELOPED AT 'U' i A new vaccine which pro- . vides immunization against poi- j sonous snakebites has been dj- j veloped by researchers at the University of Utah and the 1 Veterans Administration Hospital Hos-pital in Salt Lake. Dr. Clifford C. Snyder, principal prin-cipal investigator on the research re-search project, and Gary R. Hunter, third year medical student who has c onducted much of the laboratory work, say the vaccine has already proven effective in experimental experiment-al animals and will be ready for requested trial among a few selected veterinarians this fall. "Our experiments h a V e shown that it is possible to immunize im-munize humans against snake venom," Dr. Snyder said. "Suoh a vaccine would be valuable to outdoorsmen, game conservation conserva-tion officers, serpentologists, armed forces personnel and others who are exposed to possible pos-sible poisonous snakebites." One member of the research) team who has already tried |