What happens if one consumes snake venom serum without a snake bite?

Answer 1

All snake venom serum, aka anti-venom, antivenin, antivenne, is administered intravenously. So if by consume, you mean taken orally, it wouldn't have much effect except possibly make you feel nauseous - like drinking egg whites.

Antivenoms are purified by several processes but will still contain other serum proteins that can act as antigens (trigger an immune response in the body). Some individuals may react to the antivenom with an immediate hypersensitivity reaction or a delayed hypersensitivity reaction. These reactions are independent of the presence of venom in the body. The antivenom is metabolized in the body so injecting it before exposure to a venomous snake could provide some resistance for a limited time after injection, but the protection would dissipate. Of course injecting a lot of antivenom without any venom for it to bind to would also likely cause a bad reaction since it contains proteins that are foreign to the body.

It is possible to temporarily "immunize" a person with small and graded doses of venom, thus causing them to generate their own antivenom rather than getting it from an animal that has been injected (which is how most antivenom is produced). According to Greek history, King Mithridates tried this in order to protect himself against attempts to poison him. Consequently this procedure is often called mithridatization. Unlike a vaccination against disease which produces a latent immunity that can be roused in case of infection, to neutralize a sudden and large dose of venom requires maintaining a high level of circulating antibody (a hyperimmunized state), through repeated venom injections (typically every 21 days). The long-term health effects of this process have not been studied. For some large snakes, the total amount of antibody it is possible to maintain in one human being is probably not enough to neutralize one envenomation. Also, venom components can cause pain and minor scarring at the immunization site. Finally, the resistance is specific to the particular venom used; maintaining resistance to a variety of venoms requires multiple monthly venom injections. Thus, there is no practical purpose or favorable cost/benefit ratio for this, except for people like zoo handlers, researchers, and circus artists who deal closely with venomous animals.

Because neurotoxic venoms must travel farther in the body to do harm and are produced in smaller quantities, it is easier to develop resistance to them than directly cytotoxic venoms (such as those of most vipers) that are injected in large quantity and do damage immediately upon injection.