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Snakebite envenoming has been classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a neglected tropical disease that is responsible for tremendous suffering, disability and mortality around the globe. The typical encounter between human and snake is usually unpleasant and frightening for both parties, which may end in devastation for both, driven by mutual fear. Humans often sustain a snakebite by accidently stepping on it in the field, or by threating it by trying to corner and catch it. Due to the lack of fast and reliable snake identification at hospital level, most cases of snakebite appropriate clinical management require reliable identification of a distinctive clinical syndrome based on epidemiological, clinical and laboratory data. It is interesting to note that all venomous snakebites will affect blood coagulation to some or other degree, implicating a haemotoxic profile for all venomous snakes at various grades of intensities. This gives us the opportunity for a more in-depth investigation of this common ground phenomenon, which may give us better insights into possible species specific differences by assessing their effects on human blood. This has the potential to bring us closer to snake identification on a biochemical level.
Our research team study the effects of snake venom on blood cell ultrastructure and coagulation in humans, with special reference to diagnostic markers and toxicology, by incorporating various techniques including haematology analysers, thromboelastography (TEG), flow cytometry, turbidimetry, microscopy (light, confocal and scanning electron), proteomics and metabolomics. The aim of our research is to investigate the effects of venom from various Southern African snake species which are known to deliver a clinical significant bite and envenomation, to profile and compare its effects on blood cell ultrastructure and coagulation, in order to access whether the results could be of diagnostic value to confirm envenomation and potentially snake identification in future.