Snakebite antidote is running out

The world is running out of one of the most effective snake bite treatment, putting tens of thousands of lives at risk.

French Medical charity Medicine Sans Frontieres says new stocks of FaV-Afrique which neutralizes 10 different snake bites that occur in sub-sahara Africa, are desperately needed. 

The last batch will expire in June 2016 and there is no comparable replacement. Manufacturers of the drug say they have been priced out off the market. 

Each year, an estimated five million people worldwide are bitten by snakes, out of which 100 thousand die and 400 thousand are permanently disabled or disfigured. 

In sub-saharan Africa alone, 30,000 people die from snake bite every year and an estimated eight thousand undergo amputation.

BBC