MMAFAN555,
"The good thing with Neuro toxic venom is that you don't even necessarily need anti-venom....Just a ventilator or similar breathing machine and close careful monitoring....through with the Taipan having hemotoxic venom aswell things could get serious and complicated without anti venom."
Seriously you have no idea about what you are talking about. Neurotoxins cause paralysis to groups of muscles by interrupting the electrical signals sent from the brain. Whether they the block the receptor on the muscle or the production/ release of Acetylcholine, they work on a range of skeletal muscles not just the muscle surrrounding the diaphragm. So a ventilator while helpful will not circumvent all actions of the neurotoxins within the snake venom in question. By the way, Taipans have very weak haemolytic function but have strong procoagulants.
People frequently treat Neurotoxic bites with ventilators and in fact victims often need to be put on ventilator EVEN after they have been given Anti-venom as the anti venom does not work that well once the toxin has binded to the synapse (several hours after the bite)...If you are put on a ventilator you are very likely to survive a Elapid bite even if you aren't given anti venom...All the evidence supports this. And in some instances Anti-venom can be very ineffective in treating bites (unless it is given very quickly) and people must be put on ventilator anyway even when given anti venom.
The paralyzing of the diaphragm is what kills the victim 99 percent of the time...So that is the main problem and the ventilator is a excellent solution to that problem.
Taipan venom causes you blood to not clot (through it is not as severe as what you see in Viper bites)...The effect of the bites causes blood to NOT clot properly...You have it backwards...It cause anti-coagulation and bleeding in victims.
Clinical study on Papuan Taipan bites (Anti-venom was given to every patient who showed symptoms yet STILL 42 percent needed intubation and 37 percent needed ventilation by a breathing machine even after they were given Anti venom.) Ventilation was very effective at preventing death.
Snake bites by the Papuan taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus canni): paralysis, hemostatic and electrocardiographic abnormalities, and effects of antivenom.
"One hundred sixty-six patients with enzyme immunoassay-proven bites by taipans (Oxyuranus scutellatus canni) were studied in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. One hundred thirty-nine (84%) showed clinical evidence of envenoming: local signs were trivial, but most developed hemostatic disorders and neurotoxicity.
The blood of 77% of the patients was incoagulable and 35% bled spontaneously, usually from the gums. Fifty-one per cent had microscopic hematuria. Neurotoxic signs (ptosis, ophthalmoplegia, bulbar paralysis, and peripheral muscular weakness) developed in 85%.
Endotracheal intubation was required in 42% and mechanical ventilation in 37%. Electrocardiographic abnormalities (sinus bradycardia and septal T wave inversion) were found in 52% of a group of 69 unselected patients. Specific antivenom raised against Australian taipan venom was effective in stopping spontaneous systemic bleeding and restoring blood coagulability but, in most cases, it neither reversed nor prevented the evolution of paralysis even when given within a few hours of the bite. However, early antivenom treatment was associated statistically with decreased incidence and severity of neurotoxic signs.
The low case fatality rate of 4.3% is attributable mainly to the use of mechanical ventilation, a technique rarely available in Papua New Guinea. Earlier use of increased doses of antivenoms of improved specificity might prove more effective."
Snake bites by the Papuan taipan (Oxyuranu... [Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1995] - PubMed - NCBI
And it's not just for Taipans...Mamba Bites and other highly venomous Neurotoxic snake bites are often successfully treated with a combination of Anti Venom and Ventilators...The problem comes from Neurotoxic snakes like Cobras that have other aspects of their venoms which cause other symptoms like tissue damage etc and to a lesser extent Taipans with their hemotoxic aspect of their venom...Which obviously a Ventilator can't help....And Anti Venom is needed
