Kenya in need of more snake antivenom

NAIROBI

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WRITHING in pain on a hospital bed in a Kenyan coastal town, teenage snakebite victim Shukurani Konde Tuva faced the grim reality of his left leg from above the knee being amputated.

The 14-year-old was bitten by a puff adder - a venomous snake and the most common snakebite in sub-Saharan Africa - while eating outdoors in his village near the town of Malindi more than a month ago.

His family rushed him to hospital two hours away by motorbike, but the antivenom he received did not help.

"My son’s leg is totally rotten and maggots are even emanating from it. They'll have to cut it," said his distraught mother, Mariamu Kenga Kalume.

Some 5.4 million people are bitten by snakes each year globally and roughly half are poisoned by venom, according to World Health Organization (WHO) data.