A brief history of antivenom

India suffers over 58,000 snakebite deaths annually, almost 80% of global snakebite deaths. Even today, many snakebite victims go to a ‘baba’ whose outright dangerous treatments sometimes work only because the snake was non-venomous or the bite was dry; i.e. Early days In 1895, French scientist Albert Calmette began production of the first snake antivenom created by inoculating horses with the venom of Naja naja at the Pasteur Institute in Lille, France. In India, we use a polyvalent antivenom that covers the big four: Saw-scaled Viper, Russell’s Viper, Spectacled Cobra, Common Krait. Well, Irula tribe, who are specialised snake catchers, who capture the Big Four, hold them in earthen pots, and extract venom before releasing the snakes back into the wild.