Repeated snake bite for recreation: Mechanisms and implications

Shah, Sweni; Balamurugan, N; Menezes, Ritesh G.; Thirumalaikolundusubramanian, Ponniah

doi:10.4103/2229-5151.119202

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…The snakes used for such bites have been identified as cobra, krait, or green-colored snakes seen on the trees. [ 1 5 6 ] Our patient also described that the snake was possibly cobra. One of the patients, in a previous report described snake-dens, where different types of snakes are graded as mild, moderate, and severe form, based on the type of intoxication provided.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…[ 4 ] Some of these reports have also provided ethnography of people indulging in snake bite and these suggest that most of the people are from high socioeconomic status. [ 1 4 5 6 ] In most of these reports, no withdrawal symptoms were reported to be associated with snake bite; however, in occasional cases, patients developed the phenomenon of tolerance and indulged in more frequent snake bite trips.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are reports of rare and unusual addictions among drug users, such as using snake and scorpion venom and wasp stings to get high. [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ] However, the literature with regard to use of snake venom is limited to few case reports/case series. Most of these cases have been described among patients who have been using opioids.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Snake Venom Use as a Substitute for Opioids: A Case Report and Review of Literature

Mehra¹,

Basu²,

Grover³

2018

Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine

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The mind-altering agents such as tobacco, cannabis, and opium have been widely used since the evolution of human being. These substances have been widely used for recreational purposes. However, derivatives from reptiles such as snakes, reptiles, and scorpions can also be used for recreational purposes and as a substitute for other substances. Their use is rare and related literature is very scanty. In this report, we present a case of snake venom abuse and review the existing literature.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Snake Venom Use as a Substitute for Opioids: A Case Report and Review of Literature

Mehra¹,

Basu²,

Grover³

2018

Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine

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“…For a toxicologist working on individual venom components, whether there is signi cant variation in the lethality of venom components between snakes within the same species is an open question. There are tantalizing reports from India, for instance the practice of recreational cobra bites, which are suggestive of inbred strains [44,45]. Researching this question will require many samples from wild as well as inbred, quasi-domestic, snakes, optimally, with geolocation, size, estimated age, and sex recorded, with attention to sample sizes and control of test species.…”

Section: Research For Venom Toxicologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Curiouser and curiouser: Meta-analysis of venom toxicity of 160 lethal ophidian species shows extraordinary variance, and falsifies common assumptions, providing a basis for estimating human lethal doses.

Hanley¹

2020

Preprint

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Background: This is the first meta-analysis to characterize intra-ophidian-species variation in whole venom. The largest meta-analysis possible at this time, it encompasses all known publicly available records of animal lethality studies over the past 100 years. These results are not artifacts of resistant test-animal-species, and show orders of magnitude beyond the 1.6 logs (40 fold change) range of lethal dose documented in literature between amphibians, lizards and mice. Methods: 1005 lethal dose study results for 160 of the most lethal venomous ophidian species in the world are analyzed. Results: LDLo does not differentiate from LD50 across studies, indicating the true range of toxicity is probably larger. The belief that for route of inoculation, IC<IV<IP<IM<SC has good support (R2 = 0.86). However, 8% of SC inoculations were the lowest (most toxic) dose. Within the mouse test species, for one route of inoculation, the mean LD range is 0.94 logs (8.89 fold change), and widest LD range is 2.15 logs (141 fold change, N = 26). Within 1 test species, for multiple routes of inoculation, mean LD range is 2.0 logs (98.97 fold change), and the widest LD range is 3.6 logs (4,150 fold change). For all test species and all routes of inoculation, the mean LD range is 2.97 logs (936.59 fold change) and widest LD range is 4.76 logs (57,471 fold change). The strongest correlate for range of lethal dose results is the number of studies (R2 = 0.56). The average variance appears to follow a power law from single test species and route, to single test species and multiple routes, to all test species and all routes, as a factor of 10 multiple for each. Conclusions: Scientists working with humans should use combined LDLo and LD50 meta-datasets for all data and calculate: mean, median, minimum, range, and standard deviations. Standard deviation multiples, or at minimum, standard error, will provide desired coverage. For estimating LD50 range and minimum lethal dose for species with little data, I recommend curating a meta-dataset of related snakes, and computational research to strengthen this.

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“…For a toxicologist working on individual venom components, whether there is significant variation in the lethality of venom components between snakes within the same species is an open question. There are tantalizing reports from India, for instance the practice of recreational cobra bites, that are suggestive of inbred strains [32,33].…”

Section: Research For Venom Toxicologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Meta-analysis of venom toxicity of 167 most lethal ophidian species provides a basis for estimating human lethal doses

Hanley¹

2020

Preprint

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Background: This is the first meta-analysis to characterize intra-ophidian-species variation in whole venom. The largest possible meta-analysis possible at this time, it encompasses all known records of animal lethality studies over the past 100 years. These results are not artifacts of resistant test-animal-species, and show orders of magnitude beyond the 1.6 logs (40 fold change) range of lethal dose documented in literature between amphibians, lizards and mice. Methods: 1198 lethal dose study results for 167 of the most lethal venomous ophidian species in the world are analyzed. Results: LDLo does not differentiate from LD50 across studies, indicating the true range of toxicity is probably larger. The belief that for route of inoculation, IC<IV<IP<IM<SC has good support (R2 = 0.90). However, 5% of ICs were the highest dose, and 7% of SC inoculations were the lowest dose. Within the mouse test species, for one route of inoculation, the widest LD range is 3 logs (1000 fold change, N = 14). Within mouse, for multiple routes of inoculation, the widest LD range is 3.6 logs (4,150 fold change), N = 20, SC/IM. The strongest correlate for range of lethal dose results is the number of studies (R2 = 0.56); followed by the number of test-animal-species (R2 = 0.55); then by the number of routes of inoculation (R2 = 0.43). Conclusions: Scientists working with humans should use combined LDLo and LD50 meta-datasets for all data and calculate: mean, median, minimum, range, and standard deviations. Standard deviation multiples will provide desired coverage. For estimating LD50 range and minimum lethal dose for species with little data, I recommend curating a meta-dataset of related snakes, and computational research to strengthen this.

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Repeated snake bite for recreation: Mechanisms and implications

Cited by 16 publications

References 10 publications

Snake Venom Use as a Substitute for Opioids: A Case Report and Review of Literature

Snake Venom Use as a Substitute for Opioids: A Case Report and Review of Literature

Curiouser and curiouser: Meta-analysis of venom toxicity of 160 lethal ophidian species shows extraordinary variance, and falsifies common assumptions, providing a basis for estimating human lethal doses.

Meta-analysis of venom toxicity of 167 most lethal ophidian species provides a basis for estimating human lethal doses

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