Note that David Dennis, MD also sits on the Civilian Biodefense Committee at Johns Hopkins, as does Michael Ascher, MD PhD of the California DHS. This is the same committee that has published the recent series of articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association on organisms of relevance as biowarfare agents.
The copperhead injects its venom through ducts in its fangs. Its venom disrupts the red blood cells of its prey that in turn becomes completely subdued. Copperhead snakes have jaws that are flexible enough to swallow prey larger than twice its own diameter.pproximately 37 percent of all venomous snake bites are from copperheads. In some states, the percentage of venomous snake bites by the Agkistrodon is much higher. Over a 40-year period in North Carolina, 64 percent of all venomous bites were from the copperhead snake.
COPPERHEAD SNAKES. All you ever wanted to know and some things you did not. Agkistrodon contortrix. Copperhead snakes are pit vipers or crotalids (family Crotalidae); poisonous snakes that are named for the two heat sensing pits used to locate prey that are positioned between the eyes and the nostrils. The genus Agkistrodon includes 10 species.