Ctg researchers developing Chandrabora antivenom

Chandrabora or Russell's Viper snakes account for a large portion of snake bites in the country, but there is no antivenom here that is 100% effective against it.

To come up with a remedy, researchers at the Venom Research Centre Bangladesh and the Animal Immunisation Lab in Chattogram have been developing a fully effective antivenom for Chandrabora snake bites.

Professor Dr Aniruddha Ghose, principal investigator of Venom Research Centre Bangladesh, told TBS, "Making antivenom is a long process. Currently, the antivenom used in Bangladesh is actually made for the venoms of four types of snakes in India. The venom of the snakes of our country is different from that of Indian snakes, which is why we need antidotes that are effective against local snakes."

"As a first step in this initiative, we have started making antivenom for the Chandrabora snake. We are trying to make antivenom in the lab for the first time in the country. For this purpose, a lab has been established at Chittagong University," he said.

How deadly is Chandrabora?

According to a study by Professor Farid Ahsan of the Zoology Department at Chittagong University, Chandrabora snakes are found in 17 districts around the country, especially in the northern and northwestern regions.

At least 43% of snakebite cases in India and around 40% of such cases in Sri Lanka are caused by the Chandrabora, which indicates the pervasiveness of the snake in the subcontinent. In recent years, the numbers of this snake and people bitten by them have been increasing in Bangladesh.

Doctors said a Chandrabora snake attacks the victim with three types of poison. Its venom can severely damage limbs, organs and the nervous system, create blood clots, and paralyse victims.

Dr Aniruddha Ghose said, "Chandrabora snake venom is very deadly, which can directly damage the kidneys and sometimes produce debilitating symptoms. The venom of this snake mainly disrupts the body's blood coagulation system. Keeping these things in mind, we have started the work of making its antidote."

How researchers are developing antivenom

The antivenom research, the first of its kind in the country, is being conducted under the project "Development and pre-clinical safety and efficacy study of two novel monovalent goat IgG and chicken IgY antivenoms for the treatment of Russell's viper envenoming in Bangladesh".  The Animal Immunisation Lab has also been established under the project.

Elaborating on the process of developing antivenom, Dr Abdullah Abu Sayeed, co-investigator of the Venom Research Centre, said, "First, a certain amount of Chandrabora venom will be injected into the bodies of certain animals, which will produce antibodies. Next, we will collect serum from those animals to create antibodies for Chandrabora.

"The technology required for making snake antivenom is not available in our country at present. If we succeed in the lab, we will request the government to build a state-of-the-art laboratory in the country."

Dr Mohammad Abdul Wahed Chowdhury, co-investigator of the antivenom development project and associate professor of Zoology at Chittagong University, said the Venom Research Centre project expired in 2022. Under another project, a series of lab analyses of venom collected by the research centre has been going on at the Animal Immunisation Lab of Chittagong University.

The antivenom for Chandrabora will be designed based on the research results. It will take around one and a half years to complete the entire process, he continued.

Animals collected for the research are being reared in a natural environment following the World Health Organisation's guidelines.

South Asia's largest venom repository set up in Ctg Medical College

Under the Directorate General of Health Services' "Non-Communicable Disease Control Programme", the government for the first time took up the project to develop antivenom in the country in March 2018.

The Venom Research Centre at Chittagong Medical College's Medicine Department is conducting the research under this project. The Department of Zoology of Chittagong University, Toxicology Society of Bangladesh and researchers and experts from Goethe University in Germany are also involved in the implementation of this project.

Mohammed Noman, a research associate at the Venom Research Centre, said the centre has already collected venoms of over 350 types of snakes of 11 species found in Bangladesh.

Of these, characterisation of five species of snakes has been completed for the first time in South Asia.