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Snake Venom Detection Kit (SVDK): Update on Current Aspects and Challenges

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Clinical Toxinology in Asia Pacific and Africa

Part of the book series: Toxinology ((TOXI,volume 2))

Abstract

Snakebite is a medical emergency causing considerable morbidity and mortality worldwide, particularly in the tropics. Snake venom components are known to vary greatly leading to varied clinical manifestations following snakebite. The success of antivenom therapy, which is the mainstay of therapy, usually depends on the snake species involved, and uncertainties concerning the species involved remain a major hurdle in effective management of snakebite. Therefore, proper identification of snake species is of prime importance, consequently leading to the development of the Snake Venom Diagnostic Kit (SVDK). Over the years, various detections tests have been developed, with the immunological-reaction-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA) method being the most widely used. However, in recent times various other techniques, such as optical immunoassays (OIA), venom/antibody microarray assay, PCR based assays, etc., are also being developed with much more promise in real-time applications. Furthermore, the tests tend to be highly species-specific, reliable, sensitive, rapid, inexpensive, stable, simple, and portable for field use. It is desirable that each country develops and optimizes its own regional species-specific diagnosis kits for effective management of snakebite. Considering doubts in the commercial viability of developing SVDK, more public or private partnerships have to be developed and nurtured. This work attempts to summarize existing techniques of snake venom detection in current use, especially their advantages and disadvantages. It also focuses on recent developments and discusses the present challenges to the development and application of SVDK for successful clinical usage in the future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Emerging Technologies, Jain University, Jakkasandra post, Ramanagara, 562112, Karnataka, India

    Bhadrapura Lakkappa Dhananjaya

  2. SNIMS, Chalakka, Ernakulam District, Kerala, India

    Jaideep C. Menon

  3. Little Flower Hospital and Research Centre, Angamaly, Kerala, 683572, India

    Joseph K. Joseph

  4. Centre for Venom Informatics, Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

    Dileep Kumar Raveendran

  5. Kerala State Biodiversity Board, Government of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

    Oommen V. Oommen

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  1. Bhadrapura Lakkappa Dhananjaya
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  2. Jaideep C. Menon
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  3. Joseph K. Joseph
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  4. Dileep Kumar Raveendran
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  5. Oommen V. Oommen
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Correspondence to Bhadrapura Lakkappa Dhananjaya .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Venom and Toxin Research Programme Department of Anatomy, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    P. Gopalakrishnakone

  2. Professor of Medicine (Rtd), Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Abul Faiz

  3. Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka

    Ravindra Fernando

  4. Department of Clinical Medicine Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka

    Christeine Ariaranee Gnanathasan

  5. Infectious and Tropical Diseases Unit Department of Medicine, Bayero University Kano Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria

    Abdulrazaq Garba Habib

  6. Department of Medicine, School of Medicine National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Chen-Chang Yang

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Dhananjaya, B.L., Menon, J.C., Joseph, J.K., Raveendran, D.K., Oommen, O.V. (2015). Snake Venom Detection Kit (SVDK): Update on Current Aspects and Challenges. In: Gopalakrishnakone, P., Faiz, A., Fernando, R., Gnanathasan, C., Habib, A., Yang, CC. (eds) Clinical Toxinology in Asia Pacific and Africa. Toxinology, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6386-9_39

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