Production and Standardization of Antivenin

Abstract

The international name for antisera prepared for the treatment of snake bite poisoning is antivenenum, followed by the zoologic name or names of the species of snake from which the antigens were derived and the name of the species of animal in which the antiserum was made (WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization, 1971). The proper name in English, antivenene, suggested by Fraser (1895) has lost ground to antivenin, adopted from the French via America. The expression antivenine, occasionally seen, is of doubtful merit, and the plain name antivenom is somehow seldom used.