Snake venom treatments leverage evolution

Abstract

Tucked away in Tamil Nadu, a state at India’s southern tip, is a facility run by members of the Irula tribe, an ethnic group known internationally for a long tradition of snake handling . Because it’s the only large-scale venom extraction facility in India, antivenom manufacturers in the country have depended on the Irula snake catchers cooperative for about 45 years. But this dependence has created a problem that’s tough to unravel. The cooperative’s venom samples are particular to the region. Species these snake handlers work with are found in many parts of India, but even within the same species, snakes have developed varying recipes and proportions of toxic proteins in their venoms. Ultimately, this means many antivenoms developed on the basis of samples from Tamil Nadu aren’t as effective against snakebites elsewhere in India, a country with tens of thousands of snakebite-related deaths per year, the highest total in