Category Archives: Uncategorized

I often feel like something of an imposter in the world of snakebite. I didn’t start from a position of wanting to ‘save the world’ nor did I come into it from the admirable humanitarian angle of medicine or public health. Yet here I am. Let me explain how I got into working on reducing  Continue Reading »

I am Dr. Doãn Uyên Vy, they call me Dr. Vanessa and I am part of a team of physicians from Cho Ray Hospital, Saigon, Vietnam. We work at the Department of Tropical diseases and we very often meet cases of snakebites. There are about 1000 cases of snakebite every year that were admitted to  Continue Reading »

Growing up in the rural area of Western Uganda, cases of snakebites were a common occurrence. These would happen in garden farms, forests as women collected firewood and around water collection points. Women and children were more at risk of snakebites. In order to save lives, communities resolved that in case one encountered a snake,  Continue Reading »

A conversation with Barbara Bissell and Alisha Howell, producers of the snakebite documentary “Minutes to Die” and advocates of snakebite envenoming since 2015. Barbara: I’ll never forget seeing the first footage that came in from the field when we began filming “Minutes to Die”. In a Kenyan hospital, a mother let us film her then  Continue Reading »

There is perhaps no more recognizable symbol of the western United States than the rattlesnake. Aside from the highest mountain peaks and the center of our largest cities, rattlesnakes are everywhere. Especially in rural areas, avoiding them is not an option. We make snakes more familiar and less scary by busting myths When encountering rattlesnakes  Continue Reading »

Most of my postdoctoral career (spanning a few decades now) has been spent studying the cause of snakebite, venomous snakes. My colleagues and I specialise in using modern morphometric and molecular phylogenetic methods to tackle various groups of snakes from around the world whose taxonomy is clearly in need of revision. I myself chose to  Continue Reading »

I believe my contribution to snakebite will continuously empower individuals and communities to save lives. My work involves educating people on the urgency of responding to snakebites, as it’s an emergency that can make a difference between life and death. I have received materials from HEPS Uganda that I use to show what to do  Continue Reading »

Mkhulu was sitting on his grass mat in his traditional mud and stick home, when a Mozambique spitting cobra slithered through a gap in the wall. It came from behind the old man, and when he moved his foot, the snake bit him. I received a frantic call for antivenom from the hospital as they  Continue Reading »

I have been involved in snakebite research since 1993. The motivation to embark on this research is the increased incidence of snakebite morbidity & mortality in Sri Lanka. Hence I started a Clinic – Epidemiological research study on snakebite – A National Hospital based study in Sri Lanka (SL). It existed between 1994-1996 and outcomes  Continue Reading »

Ensuring our patients have access to effective and affordable medicines is every pharmacist’s dream come true. I embarked on a posting to Old Fangak, South Sudan in August 2019 for six months and was the Project Pharmacist at the MSF hospital there. Working for MSF has been something I’ve wanted to do for a long  Continue Reading »