No pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh produces the antivenom injections used to treat people bitten by venomous snakes. For years the injections have been imported from neighbouring India.

In 2017 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared snakebite a neglected health problem. It called for halving the number of snakebite patients worldwide by 2030 and urged countries to take steps to produce antivenom locally.

Responding to that call, the Venom Research Centre was set up at Chittagong Medical College in 2018, six years ago, under a project run by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Directorate General of Health Services' non-communicable disease control programme.

Dr Abdullah Abu Sayeed, coordinator and researcher at the Venom Research Centre, Bangladesh, and assistant professor of medicine at Chittagong Medical College, spoke to Jagonews24 about the progress made in the six years since the country's first venom research centre was set up, its limitations and what needs to be done next. The interview was conducted by Jagonews24 planning editor Moniruzzaman Uzzal.

Asked about the background to the centre, Dr Sayeed said snakebite is an unwanted accident in many countries. According to the WHO, 5.4 million people are bitten by snakes worldwide each year and 138,000 die, with the death rate highest in South Asia.

According to the latest survey, conducted in 2022 under Bangladesh's Non-Communicable Disease Control (NCDC) programme, about 400,000 people are bitten by snakes in the country every year, of whom 7,500 sadly die. Many who survive suffer disability and various other physical problems.

To address this, the Venom Research Centre, the country's first and only institution for research on snakes and snake venom, was set up at Chittagong Medical College in 2018 with financial support from the Directorate General of Health Services' non-communicable disease control programme.

The centre was set up, he said, to collect snakes from every environmental and climatic zone of the country; to create a facility for keeping venomous snakes long-term and producing their food (rats); to collect representative venom using standard scientific and internationally recognised methods; to test how well imported antivenom neutralises the venom of local snakes and how effective it is; and to characterise the collected venom so as to make more effective, affordable and safe antivenom.

Bangladesh has 10 species of venomous snake in total: two species of cobra, two of green pit viper, five of krait and the Russell's viper. The centre holds venom from all of them, and testing is under way. It has also mapped which snakes are found in which parts of the country, based on geographical location.

When the centre started six years ago it had only four snakes. It has now collected more than 350. All of them receive medical check-ups, health tests, stool tests and treatment, and venom has been collected from them.

Since its founding, the centre has followed the specific rules of the Bangladesh Forest Department and internationally recognised scientific procedures in collecting venomous snakes from within Bangladesh's borders, rearing them, collecting venom and carrying out various venom-related research.

Its researchers have already characterised the venom of several species and added three new snake species to the national list. They have projected which areas may see more snakes and bites in future and how snakes will be distributed across Asian countries in 50 years. They have also developed a low-cost method of hatching snake eggs using local technology, and are using it to hatch young and rear them to adulthood; venom is collected from these snakes too. The centre now has 350 snakes of 10 species, more than half of them hatched there.

Following standard scientific methods, 845 grams of venom has been collected from the 10 species. To meet the growing needs of the snakes, the centre also has a rat breeding facility with the equipment and staff to maintain 4,000 rats.

Asked whether the centre is researching Russell's viper venom, amid public fear over recent bites and deaths across the country, he said a study on Russell's viper venom is under way. Antibodies are being made against its venom and their effectiveness tested; such step-by-step testing is needed before any antivenom can be made.

Researching snake venom or antivenom is expensive and requires a great deal of modern equipment. The WHO has already joined the Venom Research Centre to help set up a state-of-the-art, internationally standard laboratory. As part of making a local antivenom, the process of producing antibodies from the venom of the Russell's viper, or chandrabora, has already begun. For this, a state-of-the-art laboratory called the Animal Immunisation Lab has been set up in the zoology department of the University of Chittagong.

Asked when local antivenom production might begin, he said the process of producing antivenom is not simple; it is a long-term process. Although the research centre's progress is encouraging, setting up a modern venom laboratory is now a pressing need. Once such a laboratory is established, it will be possible to produce antivenom injections locally, he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.