Snakebite treatment: Promising research on nanobody antivenoms
A shared set of nanobodies could potentially be combined and adapted for different geographical regions.
Black News 
Every year, between 80,000 and 140,000 people die from snakebites worldwide. Hundreds of thousands more are left with amputated limbs or permanent disabilities.
India accounts for roughly half of these deaths, with around 58,000 people dying from snakebites each year. Many of the victims are farmers, labourers and children in rural communities, bitten while working in the fields or walking home after dark.
Yet the basic way we treat snakebite has changed little in more than a century. Traditional antivenom is made using horses: they are injected with small doses of snake venom, prompting their immune systems to produce antibodies. Blood is then collected from the horse and processed to make the antivenom.
This type of antivenom has saved countless lives, but it has drawbacks. The antivenom can vary from batch to batch, cause severe allergic reactions and is expensive to produce.
It can also offer limited protection. For example, in India, antivenom is mainly made using venoms from four snake species known as the “big four”: the Indian spectacled cobra, common krait, Russell’s viper, and saw-scaled viper. But these antivenoms do not always work well against venoms from other snake species, or populations of the same snake species, found across the country.
We wanted to know whether modern biotechnology could offer a better approach. Our new...
