According to the health ministry, which estimated that 20,000 cases of snakebite occurred annually in Kenya last year, Kitui County has the second-highest number of victims.
As per the regional Institute of Primate Research, 7,000 snakebite victims in Kenya suffer paralysis or other health issues each year, and about 4,000 of them die.
Locals worry that the issue is getting worse. Snake sightings around homes are growing as a result of logging and agricultural expansion shrinking the surrounding forests and becoming more unpredictable climate patterns.
“We are causing adverse effects on their habitats like forest destruction, and eventually we are having snakes come into our homes primarily to seek for water or food, and eventually we have the conflict between humans and the snakes,” stated Geoffrey Maranga, senior herpetologist at the Kenya Snakebite Research and Intervention Center.
According to him, snakes may be drawn to homesteads by climate change as they seek out water during dry periods and cover during wet ones.
Together with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Maranga and his associates are working to develop safe and efficient snakebite treatments, with the eventual goal of producing antivenom on-site. According to Maranga’s center, more than half of Kenyans bitten by snakes choose traditional remedies over hospital care because they believe it to be more expensive and difficult to obtain.
Although antivenom is typically region-specific, meaning a treatment for snakebites in one area might not work in another, Kenya imports antivenom from Mexico and India.
A part of Maranga’s and colleague Fredrick Angotte’s duties involve taking the venom out of the black mamba, one of Africa’s most venomous snakes. The venom may contribute to the production of antivenom’s progeny.
According to George Omondi, the director of the Kenya Snakebite Research and Intervention Center, “the current conventional antivenoms are quite old and suffer certain inherent deficiencies” including side effects.
It will take two or three years for the enhanced conventional antivenoms to be available on the market, according to the researchers. Kenya will probably need 100,000 vials per year, but it’s unclear how much of that would be generated domestically.
The goal of the research is to lower the cost of antivenom for Kenyans. Even in cases when antivenom is available, up to five vials—which can cost up to $300—are needed.
In the meanwhile, the research center conducts community outreach on the prevention of snakebite, instructing medical professionals and others on how to safely coexist with snakes, administer first aid, and care for snakebite victims.
