Researchers from Indian Institutes of Technology , Delhi have developed, in collaboration with San Jose University in the US, an antivenom using an artificially designed peptide that effectively neutralises the poison of several snakes, including the four common in India -- Indian cobra, common krait, Russell’s viper and saw-scaled viper.
The antivenom currently in use is a serum derived from horses immunised with snake venom. It is used against all four venomous snakes and costs around Rs 500 per vial. With the new anti-venom, IIT Delhi is aiming for a cost of $1 (about Rs 70) per dose. In India, an estimated 2.8 million people are bitten by snakes and 46,900 die of snakebite every year.
Read more of this in a report by Annona Dutt published in Hindustan Times....
