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There's definately a lot of misinformation going around about snake venom/bites. I don't claim to be an expert but I know a lot of what I hear is inaccurate because a lot of the things I hear contradict each other. I guess it's not too suprising since most of what you hear about anything is garbage and with something like snake venom peoples' egos get stirred and all sorts of s#!t starts flying. I'm not refering to anyone here, but since the topic has been raised, perhaps some people can clear a few things up.
Is sucking the bite all that dangerous? As far as I can tell (but I'm not claiming to be sure, it's just based on what I've read and heard, which may well be crap) it is extremely unlikely that you'll suffer any ill effects, even if you have a small ulcer etc in your mouth. I've seen footage of people drinking rattlesnake venom (apparently it's quite common with some of those warped religious cults). Does anyone know of anyone suffering ill effects from venom from any means other that being bitten?
Also, I've spoken to a few proffessional immunologists and they've told me that you are no more likely to get an allergic reaction to venom or antivenene than you are to pretty much any other non self compounds, including the different types of food that you eat. Apparently allergies to snake venom/antivenene are very rare but get spoken about because of peoples' love of exaggerating or making stuff up when it comes to snakes. It's not all that unusual for snake bite victims to die and sometimes people wrongly say it was due to allergies rather than the toxicity of the venom.
Anyway, there's a whole lot more I would like to crap on about (I'm stuck in the lab for hours a day lately, doing little more than a couple of seconds worth of work a few times an hour) but I've probably crapped on too much already.
Once again, I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything, just saying what I've heard and asking what you think, please don't scream at me for being wrong (sorry, I'm probably just used to the nastier lists!)
-John
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