TC PALM (Stuart, Florida) 10 April 08 Boy OK after coral snake bite; other victims could not be (James Kirley)
Three Treasure Coast survivors of deadly coral snakes bites and a Jensen Beach dog that died after being bit, all within the past two years, have in common being treated with fast-dwindling stockpiles of medicine that is no longer made.
A teenage boy bitten on the hand late Tuesday by a coral snake was reported in good condition Wednesday at Indian River Medical Center in Vero Beach. The boy's family did not want him identified, hospital officials said, and would only divulge that the bite occurred south of the city.
The boy received five of 12 vials of coral snake antivenin rushed from Brevard and Miami-Dade counties, said Dr. Glenn Tremml, IRMC's director of emergency medicine. Underscoring the shortage, Tremml said out-of-town hospitals wanted any unused vials returned. Tremml added that the remaining antivenin will expire in October, meaning doctors will no longer be sure of its efficacy.
"The main reason that antivenin is not made is that it is not profitable," Tremml said.
Coral snakes bite about 80 people in the United States each year, half of them in Florida.
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals is the only company licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to manufacture antivenin to treat bites of two species of coral snakes in North America.
"We do know that Wyeth has stopped making (FDA-approved) antivenin and that nobody else is manufacturing it," agency spokeswoman Peper Long said.
U.S. and South American researchers recently released a study showing that antivenin made by Bioclon company of Mexico City to treat other species of snakes neutralizes the venom of both types of North American coral snakes.
Dr. Elda Sanchez of Texas A&M University reported that Coralmyn neutralized lethal doses of venom from both Eastern and Texas snake species in tests on mice.
"It's up to the company and the FDA to come together and agree to trying to get the antivenin on the market," Sanchez said.
Dr. Jeffrey Bernstein of Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami belongs to a special group of the American College of Toxicology.
"We've written letters to the FDA about this, but they're not really offering any good solutions," Bernstein said. "The (Mexican) company it isn't likely to spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars necessary to test it for the U.S. market. It's our problem, not their problem."
Long said the FDA has procedures to allow foreign drugs on an experimental basis and Bernstein said he knows of instances when the Mexican antivenin saved dogs bitten by coral snakes.
"We haven't used it on humans yet, because we have to wait until the (FDA-approved antivenin) is gone," Bernstein said. "If I had to use it (on humans), I can't say I would — but I might if I had to.
"If it were me, I'd want it."
All snakes, not just venomous coral snakes, are active this time of year, says Bill Haast, director of Miami Serpentarium Laboratories in Punta Gorda.
"Every spring they start moving," said Haast, who collects snake venom and sells it to researchers. "They're in semi-hibernation when it's cool. When it warms up, they come out. They've gone months without food and they're looking for food."
Coral snakes eat other small snakes and lizards.
"They're not looking for people," Haast said. "The snake usually tries to get away (from people) and hide."
Recent heavy rains on the Treasure Coast may have also flooded cracks and crevices where snakes rest and made them more active above ground, Haast said.
Boy OK after coral snake bite