Today I went to a seminar hosted by Gerry Martin about snakebites in India and how snake are interacted with. Gerry set up The Gerry Martin Project (TGMP) which is part of The South Asia Snakebite Initiative to better understand the ground reality of snakebite around the country.
TGMP has a very clear aim. Click here for more information about the project.
Gerry first outlined the main problem in India: 40,000 – 50,000 people die from snakebites each year in India. While, 150,000 – 200, 000 have permanaent tissue damage from bites per year.
Part of this is because India lacks any medical care at the grass root level. It sometimes takes bite victims 4 – 5 hours to reach medical care even though the nearest medical centre is usually 35km away.
The only taxonomic guide in India is from 1943
So what is the problem in India?
- Currently there is only one legal venom production centre to cover the care of all bite patients in the country.
- The current developed anti-venoms are used across the baord on the majority of snake bites, even if it is not the correct anti-venom for the bite.
- Part of this lack of understanding comes from limited knowledge. The only taxanomic guide used in India is from 1942 which was written by a man who had never visited India.
- The sheer population size in India (1.3bn) means that snake bites are an inevitable thing.
- There are a huge diversity in venoms which means that treatment and anti-venom production is extremely difficult.
Gerry Matin staring down a spetacled cobra.
There was once thought to be only four medically significant species in India. ‘The Big Four’ – Russell’s Viper, Saw-scaled Viper, Spectacled Cobra and the Common Krait. However, there has recently been up to ten additions to this list. The additions are some Pit Vipers, other species of Kraits, Monocled Cobra and Sea snakes.
The BBC produced a great program about snakes in India a few years ago if you have an hour to spare I urge you to watch this to look at the species more closely and their effect on the people of India.
One of the most pressing problems in India is how snake bites are perceiverd by the government. For a snake bite to be signinficant it has to be fatal. Snakebites are not a recordable disease, this means that offical government numbers are much lower than the actual. This lead to complete government inertia and very little help for the people of India.
The problem is no rich people get bitten by snakes
Due to this lack of interest from the government the next best step is to educate the people of India who are affected by snakebites. TGMP is currently running educational and awareness classes. The local population are still uneducated about venom. With some poeple thinking beating venom out of bites or witchcraft will cure a bite.
The Gerry Martin Project educate people by:
- Training forrest department staff
- Training medical staff in rural India
- Spreading awareness through snake rescue in the community.
TGMP educating children about snakes and how to avoid bites.
To me I think it is pretty obvious that the government in India does not care about snake bites in their country even though large number of the population are affected by them on a daily basis. The only real way to tackle the problem with snake bites is to try and prevent them happening. This needs the general population to understand snakes and where they can be. As Gerry said if everyone wasn’t on autopilot and considered snakes before carrying out a task nobody would get bitten.
All it needs is for locals to have a respect for snakes and understand the threat snakes are to the public. Once people consider snakes and are more careful and considered bite numbers will reduce. Tackling the government to input money into research just does not seem like a viable option under current economical conditions in India.
Gerry Martin obviously loves snakes!
If you want to learn more about The Gerry Maritn Project you can visit their facebook page or their blog.
Furthermore, you can help with this project yourself. If you want to volunteer click on over to their volunteer opportunities page.
JAMES HADEN 
Seriously wish I went to this lecture, I felt that your post gave a good representation of Gerry Martin’s work as well as the dangers surrounding snakebites in India. It seems that India is really behind at recognising how serious snakebites are or are just not willing to recognise it as a problem, since as you’ve said for a snakebite to be considered serious, it has to be fatal. The mortality and serious injury stated here doesn’t really surprise me, given how large India is. I am really taken aback by the guidelines and only one legal anti-venom production facility in the entire country is a real eye opener. I wish Gerry Martin luck with his work in India and hopefully people will start to recognise the seriousness of snakebites.
Although I did not attend this seminar, I really enjoyed reading your post. You made a great use of this layout, and I really liked the fact the you also included videos (very helpful).
Now back to the matter at hand, I think that the Indian government neglects the issue of snake bites particularly because there are no solid statistics about the number of people which are affected. And because of this, they don’t seem to understand the full magnitude of this problem, which also affects India’s economy (basically putting more than 150,000 people out of work each year). And like you mentioned, treating people with a polyvalent antivenom (specifically designed for “The Big Four”) (http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0080090) for more than ten other types of snake bites is not they way forward. I fully agree with the aim of TGMP, there is dire need for basic education and awareness about snakes and snake bites, especially in rural areas. However, sadly this will only reduce the problem, at best. The only way to completely eradicate the effects of snake bites (since complete prevention is almost impossible) lies in the hands of the government.
If I were to make one suggestion for this post would be to include more references. But this may be more of a personal preference. Either way, a great piece of writing.