Next Year, Millions of People Will Be Screwed When the World Runs Out of Snakebite Antidote [feedly]

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Next Year, Millions of People Will Be Screwed When the World Runs Out of Snakebite Antidote
// RYOT News

You may want to steer clear of venous snakes next year as the world is running out of antidotes for snake bites.

According to The Guardian, existing stockpiles Fav-Afrique will expire in June. And the company that produces them has has been priced out of the market by cheap drugs and have switched from making snakebite antidotes to rabies treatment.

What's Fav-Afrique? It's only one of the most effective anti-venoms for snakebites.

And it's going to put millions of people's lives will be at risk.

Time reports that about five million people are bitten by snakes every year and out of that number 100,000 of them will die while several hundred thousand more will become disabled.

"I think this is really a health crisis," Dr. Gabriel Alcoba, the snakebite medical adviser for Doctors Without Borders, told NPR. "We're talking about more than 30,000 deaths per year. This is an epidemic. This is comparable to many other diseases."

And while there are other alternatives and treatment, it's not as effective as the Fav-Afrique. NPR reports that the anti-venom is the only approved anti-venom that can neutralize bites of ten deadly snakes in Africa.

"Most people who get bitten by a snake aren't exactly sure what kind of snake it is that bit them and so having an anti-venom that works against a variety of different species is really important," Polly Markandya of Doctors Without Borders told BBC. "We are worried that without that anti-venom available, people will die unnecessarily."

Sanofi Pasteur, the company that manufactures the antidote, however, is open to share the recipe for the antidote to another company.

Doctors Without Borders however believe that this may be too late as replacement antidotes may take another two years before it reach the market.

The post Next Year, Millions of People Will Be Screwed When the World Runs Out of Snakebite Antidote appeared first on RYOT News.

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