Snake experts are raising the alarm over a shortage of South African-produced polyvalent snake antivenom, as a production backlog is causing waiting times of at least six months for the delivery of the life-saving snakebite treatment.
“People’s dogs have died because for the last eight months veterinarians cannot buy antivenom. It really is a big problem,” said Marais.Around 3,500 people are bitten by snakes in South Africa each year, with 800 hospitalisations, Marais estimated. Of these, only about 10% require antivenom treatment, and depending on the snakebite, treatments range from six to twenty vials per patient.
Another challenge was that South Africa’s polyvalent antivenom is bought and used in other African countries, such as Kenya and Senegal. Kenya currently does not manufacture its own antivenom and experiences about 700 snakebite deaths per year, many more than South Africa. Perry explained that the snake venom he supplies to the SAVP is injected into horses in low doses over long periods of time. When the horses become hyperimmune to the venom, blood is drawn from the horses and the antibodies against the venom are separated from the blood.
Antivenom is racist