Dehydration turns the snake poison into very fine yellowish crystals
- Collection:
- Images from the History of Medicine (IHM)
- Contributor(s):
- Henrioud, D, photographer
- Language(s):
- English French
- Format:
- Still image
- Subject(s):
- Snake Bites World Health Organization
- Abstract:
- A vial of 'dehydrated' snake poison. Verso: WHO/9874. Congo-Snake Poison. The world of snakes. 40,000 people are killes by snakebite every year according to conservative estimates made by WHO. Most of the deaths occur in Asia wher every type of poisonous snake is found. Africa, where this photo was taken, has a wide variety of poisonous snakes. Effective antidotes to snakebite have been developed. Shake poison is collected and after having been inactivated is injected into an animal which produces antibodies against it. Serum for human protection is then obtained from the blood fo the animal. WHO has provided antisnakebite serum to Burma when people there wars threatened during widespread floods by snakes seeking higher ground. At the snake farm of the Institute Pasteur in Bazzaville snake poison is collected. Dehydration turns the snake poison into very fine yellowish crystals, which are then sent to Paris.
- Copyright:
- WHO must be mentioned in the accompanying text and/or given credit. This item may be under copyright protection. Please ask copyright owner for permission before publishing.
- Copyright Holder:
- World Health Organization; Source: Record; Research date: 20151222
- Extent:
- 1 photoprint.
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101437348 (See catalog record)
- NLM Image ID:
- A014091
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101437348