Snakebites are common in India. Unofficial estimates show that there are about 275,000 incidents of snakebites in India alone these days and between 40,000 and 50,000 people die every year. Yet officially, the figure of deaths is about 2,000. The entire south India, Maharashtra, Bengal and Orissa account for most cases of snakebite in India.
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| King Cobra Courtesy: www.ineedcoffee.com |
Although
there are about 270 species of snakes in India, only a dozen are venomous.
Venom-filled fangs are used for catching preys, yet when threatened, snake’s
only defence is to attack in the same way. Non-venomous snakes can only injure
with its teeth. Cobras, vipers and banded kraits are the villains in India. The
most feared of them all is the huge king cobra, the largest venomous snake in
the world that grows up to 16-
18 ft. Its toxicity is not as high as that of
many other venomous snakes, but that is made up for in sheer volume - 7 ml is
injected in to the victim’s body in a single bite with its half-inch long
fangs. One bite and in just 15 minutes, a human body is ready for burial.
Elephants too do not survive king cobra’s bite for more than 2 hours. The king
cobra seldom bites though. Koh Sang, a village 800 km north of Bangkok,
Thailand, boasts of one king cobra each in 70 of the 120 houses in the village.
The villagers have been performing a kind of snake dance for tourists for
decades. They collect reasonably good money from
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| The Mighty Hood of King Cobra |
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| Fearsome Yet Gentle - King Cobra |
The
most lethal venom is found in Inland Taipan, an Australian snake. Being very
elusive and a resident of arid deserts, it is yet to kill a man. The ferocious
Black mamba is notorious for biting its victim repeatedly, injecting a
lot of poison. Python and anaconda, the largest among all the snakes, are
fortunately non-venomous but is known to asphyxiate people.
Sea snakes are
highly venomous and are a threat to fishermen.
WHO
The
World Health Organization (WHO) believes there are about 5,000,000 snakebites
every year around the world! About 100,000 people die each year! The bites maim
over 250,000. About three-fourth of the reported snakebites are from
non-venomous snakes.
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| Russel's Viper |
The number of snakebites increases because of
extension of human-inhabited area. Normally snakes live in quiet places where
encounters with humans are rare. Unfortunately, even in villages more and more
houses are built, forcing snakes to share their domain with people. They come to live
in holes very close to houses.
Encounters in agricultural areas like paddy
fields and tea gardens are common. In the case of common cobra, vipers, mamba
(of Africa) etc. if medical attention is not received within 30 minutes of the
bite, death
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| Common Vine Snake |
Snake
Worship
Snake
worship is still prevalent among Hindus and Christians. Nordic communities,
ancient Israelis, ancient Egyptians, Cambodians, Africans, Mesopotamians, etc
also had worshipped in one way or
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| Installation of Serpent Deities at Peroor Kavu Temple, Kalarcode, Alappuzha |
In
Christianity, St. Mark is associated with snakes. “Some Christian churches use
venomous snakes as part of their worship drawing from the gospel of Mark 16:18,
which states “They shall take up serpents…”. (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/).
Types
of Snake Venom and Anti-venoms
There
are two types of toxins in snake venom – haemotoxic, affecting blood and
organs, and neurotoxic, affecting nervous system. These two appear in the
venoms of all snakes in varying quantities. The former causes difficulty in
breathing and death of tissues while the latter, the more dangerous of the two,
causes death faster. The venom of king cobra contains more neurotoxins than
haemotoxins.
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| Common Krait |
Giving
the wrong anti-venom too is dangerous; a survivor may have to live with damage
to nervous system, paralysis and incurable ulcers. Normally doctors monitor a
victim for 15-20 minutes to study the symptoms and then inject appropriate
anti-venom. Anti-venom is in short-supply which is also a reason for the
‘wait-and-treat’ policy. It was reported in the press that scientists had
developed a new 20-minute strip test in 2011 with which doctors could identify
the snake species. Nothing is heard of it, as of now.
Alive, But Declared Dead
A
documentary that Animal Planet had aired years ago tells of a South African
herpetologist who was bitten by a dangerous Black Mamba, a highly venomous
snake. Immediately he injected an anti-venom, but that was to cause a lot of
problems later because he had become allergic to the antidote after using it
quite a few times. He was taken to the hospital within half an hour but doctors
declared him dead on the second day. Due to the insistence of his family, he
was still kept on life-supporting systems and on the seventh day a nurse
noticed that his fingers were moving. Doctors continued to treat him
optimistically and in a fortnight he was out of the hospital.
In the
documentary he narrates his experience. He says could hear the doctors
telling his family to take his body home on the second day – obviously for
burial. "I was clinically dead for eight days".
The
documentary explains that while the doctors ‘concluded’ that he was dead, his
immunity system and the medicines were fighting the venom (and the allergic
anti-venom) which had made the communication system of the body collapse. What
is to be appreciated is that the doctors, though overruled by his family, were
willing to continue medication. It was their positive attitude combined with
the victim’s determination that brought about a happy ending.
In
every country, some patients are always declared dead while being alive. One
report appeared in the press suggested that throughout the world, 1% of people
declared dead by doctors are in fact ‘not dead’. But they are buried alive!
This report I had read about a decade ago talked of an incident in which
employees of a church in France found the lid of one coffin partly displaced
while removing coffins from a burial vault to make way for new ones.
Investigations showed that the skeleton’s toe nails had fallen off. The
markings on the inner side of the lid indicated that the buried man had made
desperate efforts to kick open the lid, resulting in loss of toe-nails! This 1%
obviously includes snakebite victims too.
One
just shudders to think what would have been the fate of a victim like the South
African herpetologist had he been in India or an underdeveloped nation!
Incidents like this do not set doctors of poor and underdeveloped countries
thinking because they do not take note of what are happening around the world.
Ignorance is bliss. Reports about strange recoveries do not interest them –
probably a reason why mortality rate is high.
Hallucinogen
Some
snakes have venom with negligible quantity of toxins. Their bite will give only
hallucinogenic experience. When drug addicts run out of money, they go for
cheaper options; one of them being snakes with mildly toxic venom. Against a
small payment, the snake keeper lets the snake bite on the tongue of his
‘client’. He charges clients ’per bite’. The venom immediately reaches brain
and acts like hallucinogenic drug. Shamans of South America make a cock-tail of
snake venom and snake blood during their rituals to get psychedelic feelings.
Immunity
from Snake venom
There
is an interesting fact too. There are some who are by birth blessed with
immunity to snake venom. A report in a vernacular newspaper told of man in
Palakkad in Kerala, south India who is said to be immune to cobra venom.
Bill
Haast, the ‘Florida snake man’, began immunizing himself in 1948 by injecting
dilute cobra venom. He had a collection of over 10,000 snakes. ‘He developed
immunity to most snakebites’, reported Washington
Post when Bill died, aged 100, in 2011. “Transfusions from his blood helped
save the lives of more than 20 snakebite victims around the globe”, the obit
said. He lost his index finger at 92, when a Malaysian pit viper bit him. When
hospitalized at the age of 78 for treating snakebite, he looked only 30. May be
snake venom can delay the process of ageing. Fitness freaks should not try to
emulate him. He had almost fifty years’ experience with snakes before the jabs
had begun.
The
hedgehog, secretary bird, honey badger and mongoose, all perennial enemies of
snakes, appear to be immune to snake venom but there are no convincing research
result. While some researchers believe their tolerance levels are high, some do
not. All of them are very agile to evade the fangs. King cobra has on its menu
only venomous and non-venomous snakes. Nevertheless, it survives even if bitten
by its venomous prey - common cobras, kraits and vipers. Biochemists have
discovered that normally acetylcholine receptors of victims of venomous snakes
get blocked by neurotoxins. In king cobra’s case it does not happen! Neurotoxin
of other venomous snakes fails to get attached to its receptors and that does
the trick! Nature always designs eliminators carefully. Some scientists believe
that the mongoose also has a similar defence mechanism.
In a documentary made by Animal Planet, a
male king cobra is shown killing a female king cobra (queen cobra?) with
repeated bites. It is not clear what killed the female - the powerful bites
that caused suffocation or the venom. The male also tries in vain to swallow
the dead female. Perhaps, the receptors are not helpful if one king cobra bites
another. But snakes of all other species are vulnerable to venom; even when one gets
bitten by another of its own species. This theory may be wrong. Dr. Zoltan
Tackas of UCLA
who has been conducting advanced research on toxicity
of venomous snakes says one cobra’s venom cannot kill another. Romulus Whitaker
of Chennai Snake Park, Chennai, India an authority on snakes of India appears
in the documentary. (Courtesy: www.cspt.in for the images of Russel's Viper,
Saw-scaled Viper, Common Vine Snake and Common Krait. Snake-lovers should visit
the site.)
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| Romulus Whitaker of Chennai Snake Park |
Since
snake venom causes clotting of blood, scientists are experimenting with vampire
bats and leeches which drink blood from its sources (man, animals and birds) by
creating an uninterrupted flow. Their saliva, according to scientists, has an
anti-coagulant to ensure smooth flow of their victim’s blood in to their
mouths. Since snake venom causes clotting of blood, one hopes the research will
be beneficial to future victims of snakebite for countering blood clots
Incidentally, scientists say that snake venom is a protein compound which, if
taken orally, is digested in human stomach – provided, on its way down to the
stomach, the venom does not enter the blood stream through small lesions in
mouth and alimentary canal.
Remember,
if you go by the theory of evolution, any change in the chemistry of man or
snake’s prey to resist lethal effects of snake venom will also cause nature to
develop, over a period of time, different kinds of venoms in snakes to overcome
the new line of defence!
You may
be alive after a snake-bite; yet doctors may declare you dead! Insist on
keeping the victim on life-supporting system for a few days. Wait for the
antidote and body's defence mechanism to fight the venom. Life is precious!
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