Alistair Reid was an outstanding clinician, epidemiologist and scientist. At the Penang General Hospital, Malaya, his careful observation of sea snake
poisoning revealed that
sea snake venoms were myotoxic in man leading to generalized
rhabdomyolysis, and were not neurotoxic as observed in animals. In 1961, Reid founded and became the first Honorary Director of the Penang Institute of Snake and
Venom Research. Effective treatment of sea snake
poisoning required specific
antivenom which was produced at the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in Melbourne from Enhydrina schistosa
venom supplied by the Institute. From the low frequency of envenoming following
bites, Reid concluded that snakes on the defensive when biting man seldom injected much
venom. He provided clinical guidelines to assess the degree of envenoming, and the correct dose of specific
antivenom to be used in the treatment of
snake bite in Malaya. Reid demonstrated that the non-clotting blood of patients bitten by the pit viper, Calloselasma rhodostoma [Ancistrodon rhodostoma] was due to
venom-induced defibrination. From his clinical experience of these patients, Reid suggested that a defibrinating derivative of C. rhodostoma
venom might have a useful role in the treatment of
deep vein thrombosis. This led to
Arvin (
ancrod) being used clinically from 1968. After leaving Malaya in 1964, Alistair Reid joined the staff of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, as Senior Lecturer.
Enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting and quantifying
snake venom and
venom-antibody was developed at the Liverpool
Venom Research Unit: this proved useful in the diagnosis of
snake bite, in epidemiological studies of envenoming patterns, and in screening of
antivenom potency. In 1977, Dr H. Alistair Reid became Head of the WHO Collaborative Centre for the Control of
Antivenoms based at Liverpool.