How Snake Venom and Antivenom Work

A study published in PLOS Medicine in August 2026 estimates that snakebites kill 274,000 to 513,000 people a year, several times the World Health Organization’s figure of about 81,000 to 138,000. This film explains what venom is made of, how fangs deliver it, how three-finger toxins stop nerve signals, how viper enzymes use up the blood’s clotting factors and break down tissue, how antivenom is made in horses as Albert Calmette first did in 1895, why it must match the snake, and why so many people still die without it.

The chemistry of a bite

What venom does, and how antivenom stops it.

What venom is

Not one poison, but a cocktail.

Stopping the nerves

A toxin that sits where a message should land.

Blood and tissue

Enzymes that use up the blood’s defences.

The antivenom

A cure borrowed from a horse’s immune system.

Why people still die

A cure exists. Getting it there is the problem.

The next antivenoms

Beyond the horse, slowly.

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