MALINDI, Kenya — Writhing in pain on a hospital bed in a Kenyan coastal town, teenage snakebite victim Shukurani Konde Tuva faced the grim reality of his left leg being amputated from above the knee.
The 14-year-old was bitten by a puff adder -- a venomous snake and the most common snakebite in sub-Saharan Africa -- while eating outdoors in his village near the town of Malindi more than a month ago. His family rushed him to hospital two hours away by motorbike, but the antivenom he received did not help. 'My son's leg is totally rotten and maggots are even emanating from it. They'll have to cut it,' said his distraught mother, Mariamu Kenga Kalume. Some 5.
'My husband sold our livestock to cover the rising hospital bill,' said Kintalel, who is still paralysed in her right arm seven years later. 'Bad reactions' Experts say Kenya receives between 10,000 and 30,000 vials of antivenom per year and needs 100,000. Antivenom is made by 'milking' venom from the fangs of snakes, which is then diluted and injected in small doses into animals such as horses, which produce antibodies that can be extracted for use in humans.
Desperate Need For More Snake Antivenom
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