James Ashe Antivenom Trust

I heard on the BBC another push in India for improving snakebite treatment.

This initiative was particularly for Carpet Viper bites in Rajasthan where they are the major killer.  Like Nigeria, there are certain times of the year when referral hospitals can have dozens of snakebite victims reporting for treatment during the same period.

Their major problem, like ours, is getting people to go directly to the hospitals instead of wasting time going first to a temple or a traditional healer.

Quite a good suggestion was that family members should go off to the temple to pray while the victim goes to hospital.

They also said that India did not have trouble with antivenom supply.  We definitely do, not only because of cost but actual amounts available.

One of our ideas for reducing the delay of the patient-to-hospital journey is that we should, and will when we can, teach traditional healers to recognise symptoms of dangerous bites.  With this new knowledge, a traditional healer presented with serious envenomation would realize the gravity of the situation and immediately send the patient directly on to the nearest medical centre where antivenom can be administered and proper treatment provided.

Using the faith their patients have in them, traditional healers could respond in an appropriate manner to those presenting potentially lethal snakebites, as well as calming and alleviating the fears of those who are terrified or in pain from  non-lethal snakebites.

Do you want the good news or the bad news first? I’ll give you the REALLY bad news first, then cheer us all up with the sort-of-bad news which is actually good news.

REALLY BAD NEWS:

We in Africa are being encouraged to buy imported, cheaper “African Antivenom”, only to find at the cost of human lives that it does not work.

Possibly some African snake venom is included in the preparation of this antivenom which is not made in Africa, but mostly venoms of snakes from the country of manufacture are used.  The resulting product does not save lives of snakebite victims in Africa.

If the antivenom administered to a patient does not contain antibodies of the particular species involved then it is a dangerous waste of time to use it! This imported antivenom needs to be withdrawn.

The James Ashe Antivenom Trust believes we should continue to rely on time-tested reliable antivenoms, made on the continent.

For details of exactly which antivenoms are appropriate for which areas of Africa, look out for the latest WHO Guidelines for the Prevention and Clinical Management of Snake Bites in the WHO African Region, which should be available in 2008.

NOW, THE GOOD/BAD NEWS:

There is still a shortage of species specific antivenom (bad).

In fact the shortage is getting worse (bad) because suddenly people are waking up to the fact that SNAKEBITE CAN BE CURED BY ANTIVENOM and orders for  monovalent as well as polyvalent antivenom are pouring in (very good news).

The South African Vaccine Producers, who manufacture the antivenom needed here in East Africa, are hard pushed to cover demand (bad). Accordingly, they have increased the number of donor animals. They assure us that production will be greatly increased in another 5 or 6 months (excellent news). The price is going up somewhat to cover their extra costs (ouch!)

Having scared ourselves by thinking about deadly bites and worrying about antivenom availability and suitability, let’s think positively.  By far the biggest percentage of African snakes are harmless to man and they also do us a great service by way of pest control.

The changeable weather means that snakes are out and about at unusual times - good for the Bio-Ken tourist foot safaris that we take round the local area. It means an early start. The group must be ready to leave the farm at 8.00 am, loaded up with a good supply of drinking water, suncream, hats and comfortable shoes. They have refreshments provided later in the morning, return to the farm for a look round the collection by 1.00 pm, and go back to their hotels just in time for lunch.

Of course, we can’t guarantee that they will find any snakes, but we have some very experienced staff with them just in case they do! And there are plenty of other interesting small fry to see along the way that would never be noticed on a ‘regular’ safari.

We are proud of the training and experience of our staff at Bio-Ken Snake Farm. High standards help to keep them safe.

Our foreman and a young snake-handler had been helping a big Black Mamba to shed properly. They were about to return it to its cage when, from an unnoticed nest under the roof, 3 or 4 wasps dive-bombed the foreman and stung him on his head.

The foreman was holding the head end of the snake. The head was in his left hand, his right hand was holding part of the body and his assistant had the tail end. The foreman’s right hand came up to flap at his stings but he retained the head safely.

I happened to be passing and witnessed this. The foreman seemed to be hesitating, still within range of further wasp attack so I called loudly to him to come away and put the snake into a different empty cage, which he did, very neatly.

I know the foreman is somewhat allergic to bee stings; I rushed him to the doctor who gave him an injection and tablets to follow up. He recovered quite rapidly. While we were at the clinic, he told me that the pain and shock had been so great that he had actually forgotten he was holding a snake until I called him. Yet neither he nor his assistant had panicked, dropped the snake or run off.

Both escaped being bitten by the Black Mamba, one of Africa’s most dangerous and feared snakes, because of the foreman’s steady grip on the snake’s head. His years of snake-handler training and experience paid off well today!