Anti-venom from south India may not work across country

Rajendran, a member of the Irula tribe, takes a Russel’s viper from a pot by its neck and brings it towards a beaker on a table. Agitated, the snake bares its fangs, and bites instantly at the glass capped with a stretched rubber cloth. Within seconds, the viper drains 2ml of deadly toxins into the beaker.



Every day, Rajendran and his colleagues at the Irula Snake Catcher’s Industrial Cooperative Society functioning from the premises of Crocodile Bank in Vadanemmeli, repeat the act. The facility is the onl government-run snake venom extraction unit in the country which supplies polyvalent venom (contains neutralizing antibodies raised against two or more species of snakes) to Haffkine Institute, Serum Institute of India and other anti-venom serum manufacturers. But the venom supplied from this unit is facing a new problem. Serum made from venom of snakes endemic to south India is not very effective in other regions.

In a recent incident in the Northeast, a snakebite victim died even after administering several vials of

antivenom

serum that was prepared from polyvalent venom from the south.


Principal scientist from Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology’s (CCMB) laboratory for conservation of endangered species, Hyderabad, G Umapathy said if anti-venom was prepared from venom sourced from the south, it could be ineffective elsewhere. In the Irula society, four venoms from the ‘big four’ — Indian cobra, common krait, Russell’s viper and saw-scaled viper — are mixed and made into polyvalent venom. Instead of making polyvalent venom, monoclonal venom (obtained from a single species) has to be extracted and it has to be used for making the antivenom serum effective, he said.


Senior principal scientist at CCMB Karthikeyan Vasudevan said snakes from different geographic regions would have different venoms. A snake injects venom to kill its prey and not human beings. “Prey varies across regions and so does the venom. Hence, serum made from venom extracted in the south is not effective for snake bite victims in other regions.


There were cases reported in Rajasthan where the victims required several vials of anti-venom serum during treatment,” he said.


Chennai Snake Park executive director S Paulraj said for extracting venom, snakes are caught only from Chennai, Kancheepuram and

Tiruvallur

districts. The government should start similar centres in other parts of the country, he said.

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