Living with Snakes in an Antivenom Crisis
L iving in the countryside, we share our valley with a surprising number of snakes. They are often in our gardens, along irrigation canals, or crossing the path ahead of us on an early morning walk. Most of the time we give each other space and everyone goes on their way. But when a bite happens – to a dog, a horse, a farm worker or a hiker – we rely on one remarkable medical tool: snakebite antivenom. And right now, South Africa is facing a serious antivenom shortage. Our history with antivenom goes back more than a century. The first batches were produced in 1901 in Pietermaritzburg,
and for decades afterwards stocks were topped up by importing antivenom from the Pasteur Institute in France. In those early years you could even buy a 10 ml vial of cobra or mamba antivenom directly from Mr F.W. Fitzsimons, then Director of the Port Elizabeth Museum – life-saving medicine ordered almost like a postal catalogue item. Everything changed in 1928, when the South African Institute of Medical Research (SAIMR) in Johannesburg began producing antivenom on a larger scale. At first it neutralised only a couple of species, but more local snakes were added as scientists refined the
product. By the early 1970s SAIMR was manufacturing a polyvalent antivenom – “polyvalent” simply meaning that it can counter the venom of several different snakes with one product. The recipe reads like a roll-call of troublemakers: Cape Cobra, Green and Black Mambas, Jameson’s Mamba, several cobra species, Rinkhals, Puff Adder and Gaboon Adder. A separate monovalent antivenom, aimed only at Boomslang bites, was introduced in 1940 and is still relied on today. So how is antivenom actually made? The key workers are not only scientists in white coats but horses. Small amounts
HIGHLY VENOMOUS
HIGHLY VENOMOUS
HIGHLY VENOMOUS
VENOMOUS
CAPE COBRA Naja nivea
BOOMSLANG Dispholidus typus
PUFF ADDER Bitus arietans
BERG ADDER Bitis atropos
HERALD SNAKE Crotaphopeltis hotam
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THE GREYTON POST
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026
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