Rattlesnake antivenin shortage sparks concern

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES – Warm weather is luring rattlesnakes from their holes and tourists to the wilderness, creating potentially deadly confrontations at a time when the drug used to treat bites is in short supply.

Snake season in Western states generally runs from about April through October. The snakes are most active in early spring, when it is warm enough for them to bask without frying, and in late fall after breeding, when they are hunting and fattening up for winter hibernation.

California’s dry spell – rainfall is a third of normal for the season – has drawn snakes to some foothill communities where they don’t usually show up until early summer. The snakes head for water sources that attract rats, squirrels and other prey.

Dozens of bites have been reported in Western states so far, none fatal. But a nationwide shortage of a new antivenin concerns hospitals in prime rattlesnake country.

“There’s been a zero supply” of antivenin this spring, said Diana Bond, pharmacy director at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas. “Let’s hope we can make it to Memorial Day.”

The hospital had enough serum on hand Wednesday to treat six patients, she said.

A normal snakebite can require five to 12 vials of antivenin but a serious one could take 50, experts said.

Because of a production delay, the drug CroFab won’t be shipped until early June and “we have none in stock,” said Russell LaMontagne, a spokesman for New York-based Savage Laboratories, the U.S. distributor.

The only other manufacturer of a rattlesnake antivenin stopped making the older drug last year.

Loma Linda University Medical Center had enough of the new antivenin to treat four or five normal bites, although a serious case or two “could wipe out our supply,” said Dr. Sean Bush, an emergency physician and snakebite specialist.

So far there have been about a dozen cases, including two “near-deaths” that required antivenin treatment, Bush said.

A rattlesnake bite thins a victim’s blood, reduces blood pressure and causes swelling and tissue damage around the bite. Hospital treatment is recommended, while tourniquets, ice or sucking out the venom aren’t.