Hyderabad: Snakebites have been neglected by healthcare professionals and the pharmaceutical industry, resulting in little options regarding anti-venom vials and snake venom research.
Dr Karthikeyan Vasudevan, senior principal scientist for Center for Scientific and Industrial Research — Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR — CCMB), said, “By the time the victim come to the public health centre or the tertiary centre for treatment there is a lot of time lost. Either the anti-venom vials are not given in sufficient numbers or they are not enough.”
In a recent study, it was estimated that in India, approximately 50,000 people die due to snakebite every year. Approximately, 4,21,000 snakebites occur around the world every year. This alarming mortality rate calls for concrete actions by policy-makers, doctors and researchers.
Snake venom research and the snakebite therapy are focus of CSIR. The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology have found that anti-venom is relatively ineffective in countering the effects of a venomous bite. Geographic variation is cited as the reason for this.
The Toxicology Society of India is planning to chalk out an action plan at the ground-level to manage snakebites across the nation.
