KENYA-HEALTH-ANIMAL-SCIENCE-SNAKES

Shukurani Konde Tuva (L), 14, sits on his hospital bed, suffering with necrosis to the tissue on his left-leg caused by the Cytotoxic venom from the bite of a Puff adder snake at their home several weeks prior, as his mother, Mariamu Kenga (R), 43, reacts to the site of the injury at Malindi sub-county hospital in Malindi on April 7, 2025. The World Health Organization (WHO) categorized snakebite envenomation into the Category A of the Neglected Tropical Diseases due to high morbidity and mortality. Africa is amongst other regions that have low to non-availability of antivenom therapies. The Kenya Snakebite Research and Intervention Centre within the Institute of Primate Research (KIPRE) is in a race to research and develop antivenom locally, a first for Kenya and Eastern Africa, that have been over-reliant on imported antivenom from mainly Mexico and India despite wide-spread inefficacy as treatments in one region often do not effectively treat snake bites in another region. (Photo by Tony KARUMBA / AFP) (Photo by TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)