Innovative antivenom is a ‘potential game changer’ for snakebites
Baku, October 31, AZERTAC
Venomous snakebites kill upward of 100,000 people every year and maim many times more, a toll that has led the World Health Organization to call snakebite a neglected tropical disease, according to Science.
Current antivenoms have done all they can do to stem it. But a cocktail of lab-synthesized “nanobodies” inspired by alpacas and llamas could change the picture. They should be safer to administer, cheaper to produce, and more effective than the best available antivenoms, according to a report today in Nature.
This new kind of antivenom has proved protective only in mice so far. But “the science is solid,” says Robert Rono, a doctor and epidemiologist with the Kenyan Ministry of Health in Baringo County, where snakebite is a pernicious public health issue. “It’s a potential game changer if all goes well.”
Current antivenoms can save lives and limbs if administered quickly and properly, but people in need rarely get them. “In our part of the world, a bite from a black mamba or cobra is almost akin to a death sentence,” Rono says. “It’s a very unfair disease that really hits the poorest of the poor,” adds Andreas Laustsen-Kiel, a toxinologist and bioengineer at the Technical University of Denmark whose lab produced the new antivenom.
Infrastructure is one problem: Most bites occur in rural areas, where clinics are small. Even if a person reaches a larger, regional facility, there’s no guarantee the doctors there will have enough antivenom available or the confidence in the drugs to use them.
Current products are also a barrier. They are made by injecting animals, usually horses or sheep, with snake venoms and harvesting the antibodies. The care and upkeep of these animals is expensive, which drives up the price. And because the mixtures are a mishmash of antibodies, some effective and others not, a lot of antivenom is often required to treat a bite. A regional center might have just one or two vials—and a single bitten person could need up to 10, Rono says.
Furthermore, the foreign antibodies sometimes set off a strong immune reaction, known as anaphylactic shock, that is also life-threatening. Many medical professionals in Africa are hesitant to administer the drugs, having had bad experiences with them.
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