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polyvenom: ‘polyvenom Efficacy Low, Varies In Regions’ | Hyderabad News
HYDERABAD: A research by scientists of city-based CSIR-CCMB’s Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) has found that the response of polyvenom to saw-scaled viper bites was low and also differed based on geographic regions. But the researchers said that the unbound toxins identified in the study could be targeted to see if it improved the effectiveness of the antivenom.
Around 58,000 snake bite deaths are reported every year in the country and more than 90% are caused by the ‘big four’ — spectacled cobra, common krait, Russell’s viper and saw-scaled viper. While polyvalent antivenom (PAV) is being used for several decades, only a few clinical trials have been carried out to find its efficacy. Two separate papers by LaCONES researchers were published in ‘Toxicon: X’.
In the paper titled “Immunorecognition capacity of Indian polyvalent antivenom against venom toxins from two populations of Echis carinatus”, scientists Siddharth Bhatia , Avni Blotra and Karthikeyan Vasudevan revealed the efficacy of PAV.
‘Study found batch-wise variation in polyvenom’
Karthikeyan told TOI: “Clinicians report low efficacy of Indian polyvenom. In most cases, more than 20 vials are required to treat snakebite. We hypothesised that the efficacy could be low due to insufficient antibodies against some venom toxins. We used third-generation antivenomics to research on bound and unbound venom toxins of saw-scaled viper venom from Goa and Tamil Nadu. The immunorecognition sites of antivenom saturated at a lower antivenom-venom ratio for Goa than for TN. The immunoretained capacity of antivenom against the Tamil Nadu sample was 140.6g and Goa was 125.1g. The unbound toxins identified in this study could be targeted to improve the effectiveness of antivenom.”
“Antivenom makers procure over 80% of venom from Irula cooperative society based in Mahabalipuram in TN for PAV. Low effectiveness of polyvenom could be high due to intra-specific venom variation reported in spectacled cobra, Russell’s viper and saw-scaled viper. A recent study suggested polyvenom showed batch-to-batch variation with a varied affinity towards ‘big-four’ venoms. Low amount of toxin-specific antibodies result in greater use of vials during treatment, increasing cost and risk of adverse reactions.”
Around 58,000 snake bite deaths are reported every year in the country and more than 90% are caused by the ‘big four’ — spectacled cobra, common krait, Russell’s viper and saw-scaled viper. While polyvalent antivenom (PAV) is being used for several decades, only a few clinical trials have been carried out to find its efficacy. Two separate papers by LaCONES researchers were published in ‘Toxicon: X’.
In the paper titled “Immunorecognition capacity of Indian polyvalent antivenom against venom toxins from two populations of Echis carinatus”, scientists Siddharth Bhatia , Avni Blotra and Karthikeyan Vasudevan revealed the efficacy of PAV.
‘Study found batch-wise variation in polyvenom’
Karthikeyan told TOI: “Clinicians report low efficacy of Indian polyvenom. In most cases, more than 20 vials are required to treat snakebite. We hypothesised that the efficacy could be low due to insufficient antibodies against some venom toxins. We used third-generation antivenomics to research on bound and unbound venom toxins of saw-scaled viper venom from Goa and Tamil Nadu. The immunorecognition sites of antivenom saturated at a lower antivenom-venom ratio for Goa than for TN. The immunoretained capacity of antivenom against the Tamil Nadu sample was 140.6g and Goa was 125.1g. The unbound toxins identified in this study could be targeted to improve the effectiveness of antivenom.”
“Antivenom makers procure over 80% of venom from Irula cooperative society based in Mahabalipuram in TN for PAV. Low effectiveness of polyvenom could be high due to intra-specific venom variation reported in spectacled cobra, Russell’s viper and saw-scaled viper. A recent study suggested polyvenom showed batch-to-batch variation with a varied affinity towards ‘big-four’ venoms. Low amount of toxin-specific antibodies result in greater use of vials during treatment, increasing cost and risk of adverse reactions.”
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