The recent revival of antivenom production by the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) marks a crucial step towards safeguarding lives in South Africa.

Experts are optimistic about the improved supply of this essential treatment, which plays a vital role in addressing the dangers posed by venomous creatures in the region.

The NHLS, via its South African Vaccine Producers (SAVP) subsidiary, restarted antivenom production following the renovation of its manufacturing facility.

Spokesperson Mzi Gcukumana said: “The NHLS has resumed production two weeks ago, releasing the first batch of 536 units of polyvalent antivenom. 

“Furthermore, new batches are already in production, ensuring that supply will gradually improve in the coming months.” 

Gcukumana said the estimated release timelines for each manufacturing stage are as follows:

• Polyvalent antivenom – Early November 2025 
• Scorpion antivenom – Early November 2025 
• Spider antivenom – End of November 2025 
• Boomslang antivenom – End of November 2025 

“The production of antivenom is a complex and time-intensive process that requires extensive in-process inspections to ensure the safety, quality, and effectiveness of every vial produced,” Gcukumana said

“This marks an important step in restoring the local supply of lifesaving antivenom, critical for the treatment of snake, spider, and scorpion envenomation.” 

African Snakebite Institute CEO Johan Marais said it has been a rough ride. 

“It’ll be really good news because SAVP makes a good product. It has its limitations. It has its problems. But overall, it’s a very, very good product and it’s sorely needed,” Marais said. 

“If the antivenom is available again in November, we’d be really, really happy to see it back on the shelves.” 

Marais said if it is going to happen by November, it is going to be wonderful. 

He emphasised the importance of antivenom, saying that in serious cases, especially in small children, it could be lifesaving. 

“In a snake bite, it’s critical. If you have a serious boomslang bite, a serious black mamba bite, or a Cape cobra bite, there’s a likelihood that you may not survive. If you have a serious puff adder bite and you don’t have antivenom, you could either die or have very, very serious tissue damage,” Marais explained. 

“For spider bites, you don’t have spider fatalities, but we do see a lot of morbidity, and the spider antivenom is very, very effective. So if it’s a brown or black button spider bite and the patient gets the antivenom, they recover really, really quickly. 

“For scorpions, in the genus Parabuthus, the thick-tailed scorpions, we have two scorpions that account for fatalities every year, the rough thick-tailed scorpion in the west and the Transvaal thick-tailed scorpion in the east.”

Marais further explained that most snakes are covered by the polyvalent antivenom, and the boomslang by the monovalent boomslang antivenom. 

Regarding scorpions, it is the rough thick-tailed and the Transvaal thick-tailed. 

Then, for spiders, although fatalities are not seen, the antivenoms only cover the black and brown button spiders.

“The biggest danger, of course, is small children and frail people. They deteriorate very quickly with these envenomations.” 

Herpetofauna of Southern Africa’s Tyrone Ping said, hopefully, they will be able to deliver on their promises of making units available on those dates.

He said these types of shortages create panic among people who are active in the outdoors and those with pets who often walk in mountains or trails. 

“People are more inclined to kill snakes when they believe a bite without antivenom may result in death,” Ping said. 

Echoing Marais’ sentiments, Ping said that in the case of serious snakebite, antivenom is quite literally a life-saving treatment – without it, snakebite becomes far more damaging, complex, and can cause more deaths in some cases. 

Ping elaborated on the species of common highly venomous snakes in South Africa, which make use of the polyvalent antivenom. These include the black mamba, green mamba, puff adder, Cape cobra, Mozambique spitting cobra, snouted cobra, forest cobra, and rinkhals. The antivenom can also treat Gaboon adder bites, but those are exceptionally rare. 

thobeka.ngema@inl.co.za

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