HOF Sponsors State-of-the-art Method for Immunodiagnosis of Snakebites

Credit: © hakat/Fotolia

The Hamish Ogston Foundation is sponsoring a state-of-the-art method for the immunodiagnosis of snakebites in South India to be undertaken by the India Institute of Science (IIS) in Bengaluru, India.

When a bleeding or semiconscious victim of snakebite arrives in the hospital, the type of snake forewarns the clinical effects and there is no time to be lost. Sometimes, the patient has been able to kill the snake and bring it along. In India, where there are 58,000 deaths from snakebite annually there are four medically important snakebites which present with local swelling and bleeding but have different complications and outlook. From a medical treatment aspect it is a great advantage to know which snake is the culprit.

Advances in antivenoms and treatment can only come from well-organised research projects where antivenom effectiveness for different types of snakes are compared. If the type of snake is not accurately identified the research is meaningless.

The Hamish Ogston Foundation is funding the India Institute of Science (IIS) Bengaluru India to capitalise on the rapidly advancing field of Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and to produce a highly specific and sensitive snake-identifying test. Furthermore, it will be possible to determine the concentration of snake venom in the blood indicating the effectiveness of the antivenom that is administered.

Visit hamishogstonfoundation.org/snakebite for more information on our support of snakebite research.