Dear Professor Harvey,
 
Thank you for your email response received on December 19, to my letter concerning “Letter to the Editor”. I do understand and appreciate your concerns as well as those of the journals’. I do have the same concerns. However, this information is not being presented to a periodical directed to the “novice”, but to a scientific journal. The notable American Journal of Tropical Medical Hygiene Volume 9 pgs 284-292 (1960) published the remarkable paper “ACTIVE IMMUNIZATION OF MAN AGAINST THE VENOM OF THE AUSTRALIAN TIGER SNAKE (NOTECHIS SCUTATUS)” and then there is Y. Sawai’s comprehensive “Vaccination against Snake Bite Poisoning.”
 
I do respect your decision not to publish the letter. However, in my case there is objective evidence of the production antibodies as indicated with the increasing doses. I do realize that no specific antibodies are labeled or identified in my paper. No immunoassays or antibody titers were conducted. It was not done as a study but to afford me some protection against envenomation. However, these inoculations have afforded me personal “first hand” experience with the effects of these venoms and then the later subsequent absence of these effects using much higher doses than those originally that resulted with notable effects. Interestingly I presently feel nothing, except burning at injection site, following inoculations using Green Mamba venom. The effects of Cape cobra venom is basically the same, but with leaving notable sores. The “old” estimate used for LD50 of these venoms 1 drop = 1/20 ml = .05.  The dose, of both venoms, I have used on several occasion is .15ml. Maybe a very general estimate, but never the less a potential lethal dose. Monthly booster inoculations are only .05 ml.
 
My life’s work was inspired from working for Bill Haast at the Miami Serpentarium, when he was still in Miami, Fl. Now of course he is still continuing his work in Punta Gorda, Fl. He was also concerned with this issue and never gave any advice or instructions concerning immunizations. His case however was presented Amer. J Med Hyg. 4 pgs 1135-1137 (1955)
 
I admit this is a legitimate concern. Perhaps some details of these immunizations should be omitted. May I suggest that a generalized paper featuring this subject and citing the individual cases, only revealing the case, claim and contact information. These multiple accounts of Haast, Wiener and my case will prove to be of some interest in future research in related subjects.
 
In any case I respect and honor your decision.
 
Lee Moore
Serpentoxin Laboratory
P.O Box 565
Ft. McCoy, Fl. 32134-0565
Email LeeMoore@serpentoxin.com 

• I do not have the specific source and citation on Y. Sawai’s article, but I can forward copies if you are interested.