- As many as 137,000 people die from snakebites every year.
- Venom from snakes can cause internal bleeding, attack the nervous system, and even stop the heart.
- Making anti-venom is an expensive multi-step process yielding life-saving but inaccessible cures.
The World Health Organization reported that between 4.5 and 5.4 million people get bitten by snakes annually. Of those who are bitten, between 1.8 and 2.7 million develop clinical illness, and between 81,000 and 138,000 die from complications from the venom.
Anti-venom can save the lives of thousands, but anti-venom isn’t always widely available. In places like India and sub-Saharan Africa, thousands of people die each year from snakebites.
The process of producing anti-venom is a multilayered and dangerous process involving horse blood, high-tech labs, and, of course, handling some of the most toxic snakes in the world.
