Oral Immunization Response of Common Krait Found in Sindh Province of Pakistan: A Novel Approach for Anti snake venom (ASV) Production

Abstract

Background: Snake biting are a substantially neglected health problem in rural areas of Pakistan. There is a need for producing larger and better quality anti-snake venom to decrease mortality associated with snakebite cases. Objectives: The current study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a novel strategy to produce antivenom against the venom of two common krait species found in Sindh, Pakistan Methods: This was an animal-based research conducted at Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. All experimental subjects were categorized equally into two groups with unique numerals for identification purposes. i.e. Group A for Bungarus sindanus and Group B for Bungarus caeruleus. Each group consisted of 6 horses. One horse in each group acted as a control. Before initiating the immunization process, baseline serums were collected from the subject’s jugular veins and stored as baseline controls. Post immunization serums were weekly collected from the horses and stored. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to estimate immunoglobulin of the subjects by adding a fixed amount of venom antigen with coating buffer pH of 9.5 to 10 ng, 100 ng, and 1000 ng. Incubated overnight at 37° C temperature in the incubator. Results: The results showed that the two species of the krait family did not show significant neutralizing antibodies against each other. The novel oral adjuvant formulation of snake venoms is safe and easy to administer which will be useful for commercial ASV production of potent antibodies at a significantly reduced cost and without any significant adverse effects on equine health. Conclusions: The current study presents an effective novel approach for the production of anti-snake venom for Bungarus sindanus and Bungarus caeruleus.