Kasaragod labourer dies in hospital after hump-nosed viper bite; no anti-venom available

Kasaragod: A Kasaragod man bitten by a hump-nosed pit viper (Hypnale hypnale) five days ago died in a Mangaluru hospital on Thursday, October 24. The deceased has been identified as Ashok (43), a native of Miyapadav in Meenja grama panchayat.

Ashok, a construction labourer, was bitten by the snake around 8 pm on September 18, when he was resting at the sitout of his house, said Riyaz Miyapadav, a social worker. Hearing his cries, the family members rushed out and beat the snake to death.

Ashok was immediately taken to the hospital in Mangaluru, where he died on Thursday. He is survived by his wife, Prameela, two school-going children, Prajwal and Dhanya, and mother, Lalitha.

Doctors and snake rescue activists said there is no anti-venom serum for bites from hump-nosed pit vipers and Malabar vipers. They said the fatal bites from these two snakes were seeing an increase in the state.

In India, polyvalent antivenom is made by injecting small doses of venom from each of the big four snakes – spectacled cobra, common krait, saw-scaled viper and Russell's viper – into horses. The antibodies (immunoglobulins) created by the horses are purified to produce the polyvalent antivenom, which is effective against these four highly venomous species, said a snakebite expert at Kozhikode Medical College.

Till the 1990s, hump-nosed pit vipers (HNPV) were considered harmless so not much work went into making anti-venom for its bites, he said. "But studies have found that HNPV bites cause acute renal failures," he said.

Another doctor said the venom of the hump-nosed pit viper causes damage to the capillaries, the tiny blood vessels in the body. This can lead to leakage of blood and fluids from the blood vessels, resulting in swelling, bruising, and potential complications such as internal bleeding or acute kidney injury, he said.

The polyvalent antivenom available for the big four is reported to be counterproductive for victims of HNPV and Malabar viper, said the first doctor. "In such cases, anti-venom serum has no role," he said. Without anti-venom, doctors focus on treating the symptoms affecting the internal organs."

According to KT Santhosh Panayal, a master trainer of Kerala SARPA (Snake Awareness, Rescue and Protection App) of the Forest Department, hump-nosed viper, called because of its pointed and upturned snout, is a major killer found in the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. The number of bites has been increasing over the years, he said.

In a 2018 study of 1,500 toxic snakebites reported in Kozhikode Medical College, 60 per cent were hemotoxic snakebites (affecting blood). Of them, 70 per cent was due to Russell's viper and 25 per cent due to hump-nosed pit viper. "Since then, the number of HNPV bites has increased further," said Santhosh in Kasaragod.

Ashok's death is the second from snakebite in Kasaragod district this year. On July 3, Chomu, a 64-year-old woman from the Koraga tribe, died after being bitten by a cobra inside her house at Kurudapadav in neighbouring Paivalike grama panchayat.