Scientists may have found a panacea for snake bites

Oct 29th 2025|4 min read

People bitten by a black mamba, a venomous snake that lives in central and southern Africa, have just hours to live. The snake’s venom disrupts nerves and muscles, and eventually paralyses the lungs and heart. It is far from the only species of snake dangerous to humans. Of the more than 300,000 people bitten by snakes each year in sub-Saharan Africa, over 7,000 die. A further 10,000 need the bitten limb amputated. And those are just the numbers reported to the authorities. The real figures are probably quite a bit higher.