More than 45,000 people die every year in India from snakebites making it a major killer especially in rural areas. And yet, since it a problem of mostly poor rural labourers it is a largely public health problem. Antisnake venoms currently in use in the country are limited in their scope for treatment and often have unwanted side effects. Meanwhile, a possible new therapy now holds out hope for victims of snakebites.
Scientists from the toxicology laboratory of University of Calcutta have created nanoparticles that exploit the antivenom properties of the herb Hemidesmus indicus. They conjugated a compound –2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-benzoic acid or HMBA – extracted from the root of the herb with gold nanoparticles and showed that the resultant nanoparticle neutralised toxicity in the kidneys, liver and muscles of mice injected with the venom of Russell’s viper, one of the most venomous snakes. The research was published in the Indian Journal of Experimental Biology.
According to the research paper, 60 of the 600 venomous snakes in the world are found in India. Most snakebites and deaths in India are caused by the highy adaptable big four species – Russel’s viper, Indian krait, spectacled cobra and saw-scaled viper. Apart from thousands of deaths, snakebites cause more 2 lakh to lose their limbs every year and, according to some estimates, only one in seven cases actually reach a hospital. Snakebites in India pose a complex problem because of the different types of snakes with different types of venoms found in different geographical area. The lack of awareness of the impact of envenomation by a snake, monitoring of symptoms and treatment with anti-venom further complicate the problem.
The University of Calcutta researchers say that the herb-nanoparticle may open up a new strategy to treat snakebite but that more intensive research is needed to explore the mechanism of action of gold nanoparticle-HMBA in detail.
