WILL SNAKE POISON CURE LEPROSY?

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4384, 15 June 1901, Page 3 (Supplement)

WILL SNAKE POISON CURE LEPROSY?

In a recent number of the “Deutsche Medicinischo Wochenschrift,” Marcondes de Moura, a physician of San Paulo, Brazil, reports on the favourable results he has attained in the use of rattlesnake poison as a remedy for leprosy. Among the natives of Brazil the rattlesnake (Crotalus durissimus') has long been esteemed highly as a remedy for various diseases of the skin, being usually eaten by the patient, the head alone excepted, because of the poison glands it contains. How much this cure is affected uy superstition cannot be ascertained easily; at all events, especial importance is given to the rattlesnake in the treatment of leprosy. It is stated that the leper who has been bitten by a rattlesnake and does not die from the bite is shielded for the rest of his life from the disease. Dr de Moura, therefore, using every precaution, made a series of tests with snake poison, carefully prepared, and administered to lepers who wer e violently ill. The poison, obtained by expression from the glands, afforded the most favourable results. The doctor has administered the remedy to fifteen patients in all, to some intemallv, to others in the form of a subcutaneous spray; and it ,is his conviction that by careful and intelligent use of the poison of the rattlesnake leprosy can be cured. He is now striving to improve his mode of treatment. With much more reserve the distinguished pharmaceutist. Professor L. Lewin, expresses his opinion in a brief article in the same “Wochenschrift.'’ He does not deny the possibility of the favourable effect of such treatment, but warns against exaeaerated hones. He recalls a case reported by Tschudi, which shows that snake poison administered in large quantities kills lepers as easily as other men and

women. A leprous patient . . . let himself be bitten by a snake, the Crotalus horridus, because popular belief ascribed curative effects to the bite of the snake. Twenty-four hours after he had been bitten the patient died in convulsions. Professor Lewin admits, however, that this case proves nothing against the possibility of a cure of leprosy by snake poison.