These snake antivenoms have been manufactured for some 130 years, but now there is a plan on how to design and manufacture them with high quality, which will be guaranteed by their safety, effective and functional use.
The first guideline is aimed to products for being used across sub-Saharan Africa, for treating snakebites.
The second one is for treating attacks by a single species or group of snakes.
The WHO texts referred to antivenoms in which the snakebite mainly causes a syndrome dominated by neurotoxic effects and which involve effects on blood coagulation or tissue necrosis without paralytic effects.
According to WHO, 5.4 million people are being bitten by snakes every single year. Safe and effective antivenoms could prevent between 83,000 and 138,000 deaths, and at the same time, reduce the severity of serious disabilities affecting thousands of victims.
pll/mgt/joe