How does Mithridatism work if there is so much variety in snake venoms and their antibodies? In the NYT article linked, it specifically notes that the key is that this guy's blood contains antibodies that can neutralize multiple snake species. I wonder what the mechanism is for this, whether this is coincidence, or whether there's some sort of efficiency operation being run by the immune system that is constantly trying to combine multiple similar antibodies into one. If so, it implies we could also run this sort of multi-snake operation in horses or sheep as well.
A family member of mine got bit here in Australia and they didn’t even give them any anti venom as the risks of side effects wasn’t worth it. They said it was hell sweating it out so I would think there would even be a market here if you could make them more targeted!
Not just horses apparently … https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/health/snakes-universal-antivenom-tim-friede.html?unlocked_article_code=1.EE8.b1BN.gZ0RPnzYADAr&smid=url-share
How does Mithridatism work if there is so much variety in snake venoms and their antibodies? In the NYT article linked, it specifically notes that the key is that this guy's blood contains antibodies that can neutralize multiple snake species. I wonder what the mechanism is for this, whether this is coincidence, or whether there's some sort of efficiency operation being run by the immune system that is constantly trying to combine multiple similar antibodies into one. If so, it implies we could also run this sort of multi-snake operation in horses or sheep as well.
A family member of mine got bit here in Australia and they didn’t even give them any anti venom as the risks of side effects wasn’t worth it. They said it was hell sweating it out so I would think there would even be a market here if you could make them more targeted!