In the United States getting bit by a rattlesnake is a very expensive business. With anti-venin prices at the hospital running $2300.00 a vial, and with severe envenomations often requiring 10 or more vials, its not uncommon for a course of treatment to run close to, or more than $100,000.00.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, that same treatment, using the exact same anti-venins, usually costs a tenth, or less, and achieves the same results. Why the cost disparity?

That's exactly the question researcher Dr. Leslie Boyer at the University of Arizona wanted to find out. The founding director of the VIPER Institute, a research group studying ways to improve the medical treatment of venom injuries, used the numbers to build a pricing model for a typical arachnid anti-venin sold in the U.S. and the disparity is breathtaking. According to the model, a single vial of anti-venin that would cost over $14,000 in the United States would cost one or two hundred dollars in Mexico.

"The U.S. needs to re-think how we manage these things, because we have reached the point where the developing world is getting more timely access to better drugs (at least in this field) than we are." - Dr. Leslie Boyer

According to Boyer, in Mexico authorities determined some time ago that treating venomous snake and spider bites was a public health issue, but to try to implement something similar here would require an act of Congress.

To read more check out the article at the Washington Post. Gallery photo by JeffB.