VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — On Sunday morning, Virginia State Police (VSP) troopers had to rush vials of antivenom from the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center to a hospital in Richmond, to save a man's life.
“Something that can be quick-acting or slow-acting, depending on which type of bite you’re working with," Senior Aquarist and herpetologist Stacey Murray-Rester told 13News Now.
State Police officials said the fiasco started when a man's pet snake, an African Pit Viper, bit him, which they say is one of the top ten deadliest snakes in the world.
He was rushed to the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, where they gave him a vial of antivenom from the National Zoo. However, VSP spokesperson Michelle Anaya said that wasn't enough to save his life. He needed a second dose.
According to Murray-Rester, the Virginia Aquarium supplied nearly three dozen vials of an antivenom treatment named SAIMR, explained as a "cytotoxic" antivenom that prevents poisonous venom from attacking and destroying a person's cells and tissue.
The aquarium keeps doses of the antivenom in case any of its venomous snakes inside the facility bite a handler or other staff member.
Murray-Rester says that the SAIMR antivenom can be used to counteract the venom of Egyptian Cobras, which are held at the aquarium, and that it also counteracts the effects of the Pit Viper bite.
Up to this point, the aquarium hadn't deployed its usage, but they keep roughly 50 vials in case of unexpected emergencies.
"Combinations of venomous snakes combined into that one, we have Egyptian Cobras listed in it, that’s why we have the stockpile," she said.
A VSP sergeant picked up the antivenom from an aquarium employee and drove it to Richmond "with utmost urgency," Anaya said. It was passed on to emergency personnel at the hospital.
According to Richmond Animal Control, an ordinance is not currently in place that would prevent individuals from owning exotic animals such as this. State scientists told 13News Now the Commonwealth does not actively regulate them and their ownerships.