I've dealt with venomous animals for years and as yet have only been bitten by a very few. The one that stands out the most was the bite from a Scolopendra subspinipes (very large centipede). This is the only species with a human death attributed to it. It bit me three times on the back when it got loose and ran up my arm. As soon as I got it loose and back in it's container, I went straight to the bite reports on arachnoboards to see what to expect. Most of the posts started out the same way "The most excrutiating pain I've ever felt" or "Don't get bitten by one of these". One guy even said he would rather get bit by a black widow again than take a shot from one of these again. After getting myself prepared for the worst, I was surprpised when not much happened. A little localized numbing and a little stiffness. There was a scar for almost a year that itched like crazy and stayed swollen most of the time.

My point with that story is that different people react in different ways to different substances. In my case, it could've been a dry bite but that wouldn't explain the presence of swelling at the site for may months after the bite. I'm sure it wasn't a full blown bite however there was some venom injected at least and there was almost no pain. In fact, the bite itself didn't even hurt even though it drew blood.

The differences in tolerance of the toxins between individuals isn't th only thing to note. The amount of venom and the toxicity of the venom is an important thing to consider. One of the guys I used to deal with used to get bitten pretty regularly and never sought medical treatment for any of the bites. After being bitten by an eyelash viper once, he told me that he would either get better or die. He got better and showed very little sign that he was in pain at the time.

Here in Alabama, there are very few snake bites to worry about for the average healthy adult. rattlesnakes are quite significant, but I've not heard of any confirmed fatalities attributed directly to the snakebite itself in a very long time. As for the spiders, I've never been able to find even a single case of fatality attributed directly to a black widow bite and brown recluses are equally dubious. That is not to say they are not nasty, the bites can cause extensive necrosis which can be permanantly disfiguring.

The whole thing with venom research is, it's very difficult to test due to endless variables in conditions. People have different reactions to the same venoms, animals aren't likely to be helpful by administering controlled doses of their venom, not to mention that age and health play a significant role in how a person reacts, and the fact that every venom is a different mix of nasties that can be different even in the same species.

I think this should be tested more thouroughly (as well as can be) but considering all the variables, there is no way to conclusively say that since it works on one group, that it will work for all. If it does do more good than traditional methods however, it should be implemented more often.