Snakebites

Snakebites have been in the news. From Nature:

Biomedical-research funder the Wellcome Trust has announced an ambitious initiative to improve the treatment of snakebites in poor countries. Snakebites kill tens of thousands of people a year, partly because they are treated with archaic antivenoms that often work only for one species.

Wellcome’s £80-million (US$103-million) programme, announced on 16 May, aims to improve existing therapies and will also support the development of antivenoms that can treat the toxins of different snake species.

Do you know where to class treatment of snakebites in humans? Tip for searching: don’t be overly specific. One approach would be to browse poisonous in the Relative Index and select: Poisonous animals—human toxicology 615.94, then look down in the Hierarchy box in WebDewey. Another approach would be to browse snake in the Relative Index and select: Snake venom—human toxicology 615.942. The number 615.942 Venoms has the including note: Including bee, scorpion, snake, spider venoms.

What about treatment? In the WebDewey Hierarchy box, click 615.9 Toxicology to see other subdivisions and select 615.908 Treatment of poisoning. That record has the class-here note: Class here antidotes. By the Rule of zero, treatment of poisoning by snake venom is classed in 615.942, not 615.908. Similarly, antidotes to snake venom—antivenoms—are classed in 615.942 Venoms. An example of a work about treatment of snakebites is Guidelines for the management of snake-bites.

Works on the biology of poisonous snakes and interdisciplinary works on poisonous snakes are classed in 597.96165 Poisonous snakes, a number built as shown in the Synthesized components box:

An example of a work classed in 597.96165 is Venomous snakes.

Comments

[Liz]

Snakes aren't poisonous. You don't get poisoned by a snake. They are venomous. So 615.908 treatment of poisoning doesn't make any sense for snake bites anyway

[Julianne Beall]

Liz, thank you for your comment. You are right that venom and poison are not the same thing. According to the Australian Academy of Science (https://www.science.org.au/curious/everything-else/poison-vs-venom), “Venom is a specialised type of poison that has evolved for a specific purpose.” We have added the Relative Index entry: Venomous snakes 597.96165. But we are retaining the entry for “Poisonous snakes.” The preferred term in LCSH is “Poisonous snakes (http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85103949.html),” and there are about 1563 works in WorldCat.org with that heading. In MeSH, the scope note for “Poisoning”(https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/record/ui?ui=D011041) is “A condition or physical state produced by the ingestion, injection, inhalation of or exposure to a deleterious agent.” In the MeSH tree structure under “Poisoning [C25.723]” is “Bites and Stings [C25.723.127],” which has the scope note: “Injuries inflicted by the TEETH or poisoning caused by VENOMS of animals.” Under that is Snake Bites [C25.723.127.442]. Juli

[Julianne Beall]

Snakebites comment: second try to provide links that work:
https://www.science.org.au/curious/everything-else/poison-vs-venom
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85103949.html
https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/record/ui?ui=D011041