The pioneers of venom production for Australian antivenoms

1 Toxicon 48 (2006) 899 918 The pioneers of venom production for Australian antivenomsPeter Mirtschin venom Supplies Pty Ltd, PO Box 546, Tanunda, South Australia 5352, AustraliaAvailable online 22 July 2006 AbstractBefore the introduction of the first Australian antivenom was the era of the self-styled snakemen and their diversesnakebite remedies. Many received multiple bites from highly dangerous snakes, some of which were deliberately taken toeither prove a certain treatment or liven up their show. The mortality rate among these handlers and showmen was of the first effective Australian antivenom, the tiger snake antivenom, in 1930, began the scientific approach totreating snakebite and opened new frontiers for professional and amateur snake people.

2 Collecting venoms in thedevelopment and early production of antivenoms was carried out by a number of professional herpetologists often withlittle or no reward and in some instances at the ultimate cost of their lives. This paper reviews the most important of thoselate nineteenth and twentieth century snakemen and their contributions to venom research, antivenom production andcurrent toxinological Elsevier Ltd. All rights :Budden; Cann; Chandra; Fleay; Eades; Hosmer; Ramsamy; Reynolds; Slater; Tanner; Thomson; Worrell1. IntroductionAfter the early days of European settlement ofAustralia, snakes were abundant, and many bitesoccurred. By the early 1900s, with snakebiteincidence high, the attitude to snakes was one thatthey should be eliminated as pests (Fig.)

3 1A). Thefirst antivenom, against tiger snake venom , wasdeveloped in 1930. Subsequently, in response topublic pressure, other antivenoms were , 1955; Brown snake, 1956; Death Adder,1958; Papuan black snake, 1959; Sea snake, 1961;and the polyvalent, 1962 (Brogan, 1990). Manyherpetologists were involved in catching, keepingand milking snakes for the development andproduction of these interest and enthusiasm was no betterdemonstrated when there was extreme urgency todevelop the Taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus) anti- venom in the late 1940s to mid-1950s. A list ofearly taipan venom supplies is summarized in thehandwritten document from CSL files (now inthe Australian venom Research Unit archives)(Fig. 1C).

4 This work was undertaken by Australianswho risked their lives handling snakes, often with-out any financial reward. The following excerptsprovide a summary of these individuals and theircontribution to Australian Early snake men and the snakeThere were many herpetologists; naturalists,snake men, snake charmers and interested peopleon the periphery who collected venom or helpedARTICLE IN $ - see front matterr2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights Fax: +61 8 8563 do so. Some played valuable roles ineducating the public about snakes sometimes usingbizarre entertainment involving snakes (Fig. 2A).There were dedicated medical practitioners whoprovided the best care available at the time andothers who offered nothing better than quackremedies.

5 All, nevertheless, provided importantstepping-stones to modern snakebite to the first antivenom development inAustralia, many of the snake men had a vast arrayof snakebite remedies they either used for them-selves in the case of bites or pedaled to the such as ammonia, strychnine, chlori-nated lime, potassium permanganate, suctioncaps, alcohol, gunpowder, petrol, toad urine, iodideswabs and pig face plant juice were some that wereused and sold. Some snake men were highlyinfluential and were even sought by overseasinstitutions to demonstrate their were bitten accidentally and many also tookdeliberate bites to demonstrate the efficacy oftheir 1lists some of the snakemen and women who died from such bites (Cann,1986).

6 At the end of the 19th century, news of effectivesnakebite serums in Vietnam and Brazil (Hawgood,1992, 1999) from work of Frenchman Dr. AlbertCalmette and Dr. Vital Brasil from Brazil reachedAustralia. This news led Australian researchers tostudy Australian venoms more closely and developcures based on antisera raised in animals. By 1901,Frank Tidswell had produced Australia s firstARTICLE IN PRESSFig. 1. (A) After the snake hunt in the Barmah Forest 1906. There were 111 snakes caught in one afternoon. Mr Dowell is the local farmerin the front (By permission of the National Library of Australia). (B) Kevin Budden (left) and Neville Goddard searching for Taipans in asea of tall grass near the Blue Mountains Cape Yorke Peninsula north Queensland April 1949.

7 (Photo taken by Roy McKay and suppliedby Neville Goddard). (C) A handwritten CSL record of the venoms produced by the respective snake catchers during the development ofTaipan Mirtschin / Toxicon 48 (2006) 899 918900experimental antivenom whilst working for NSWD epartment of Health. He injected a horse withNotechis scutatusvenom over three and half Calmette, he found it ineffective against mostother species (Cann, 1986,Hawgood, 1999). How-ever, it was the work Kellaway and Hamilton-Fairley at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institutecombined with Morgan at the then CommonwealthSerum Laboratories, that ultimately provided thefirst widely available treatments for Australiasnakebite with the development of Tiger snakeantivenom in 1930.

8 This then involved some ofAustralia s herpetologists in the more credibleactivity of venom collection for antivenom devel-opment and Twentieth century venom producers and Kevin clifford budden (1930 1950)In 1949, Kevin Budden (Figs. 1B, 2B, 2C) andfriends, Neville Goddard and Roy Mackay (Fig. 5),were interested in catching the highly feared andelusive taipan (Fig. 2D). The lack of a specificantivenom, combined with a venom of highapparent toxicity and efficiency of strike meantthere was a real sense of urgency in this quest. Theyset out for Coen as Roy Mackay had found recordsof taipans from this locality in the AustralianMuseum where he was employed as a IN PRESSFig. 2. (A) Herbert Hermann Heuzenroeder circa 1913, Tanunda Show used bizarre a form of entertainment (photo supplied by SteveHoff).

9 (B) Kevin Budden (photo by Associated Newspapers Ltd Sydney provided by Roy Mackay). (C) From L-R. Kevin Budden, RoyMacKay and Neville Goddard at Brisbane Station en route to Cape Yorke Peninsula Queensland in search of Taipans for antivenomdevelopment. (D) The TaipanOxyuranus scutellatus. (E) The common Tiger snakeNotechis Mirtschin / Toxicon 48 (2006) 899 918901 Upon arrival, they found themselves in a sea of tallgrassland (Fig. 1B) that made it almost impossibleto see snakes. There were not any sheets of ironlying around which would have made it easier tocatch them. They missed one which slid throughNeville Goddard s legs and another which soughtrefuge in the roots of a tree beside the Coen Riverwould not re-emerge whilst they waited (Goddard,2004).

10 Kevin Budden was a safe snake handler andwanted to set up a reptile park with NevilleGoddard. He already had good experience withdangerous southern Australian snakes including thedifficult to handle common brown snake. Kevin sparents wanted Neville to accompany him on asecond trip north in 1950 in his pursuit to securetaipans but he was already committed to go to theAdmiralty Islands to in a highly paid governmentjob instructing Japanese war criminals which wouldprovide funds for the reptile park (Goddard, 2004).Once in Cairns, he caught 27 snakes beforefinding a taipan at the rubbish dump near EdgeHill. He caught it without any catching equipmentor snake bag and walked to the nearest road andsummoned a truck upon which he sat beside thedriver with the snake in his hands.