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Venomous snakes kill nearly 100,000 people a year. Which is weird, because we have a pretty effective treatment for venomous snake bites; it’s actually been around for more than a hundred years. So why are so many people still dying?

LEARN MORE

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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:

• Envenomation: The process by which venom is injected by a venomous animal.
• Antivenom: Purified antibodies against specific venom components.
• Tropical zone: The area of the Earth between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
• Toxicofera: The clade of snakes and lizards that first evolved venom more than 170 million years ago.

If you liked this week’s video, you might also like: “How Horses Save Humans From Snakebites” by @veritasium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ziWrneMYss

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CREDITS

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David Goldenberg | Script Writer, Narrator and Director Lizah van der Aart | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info

OUR STAFF

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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida

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REFERENCES

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Global Snakebite Initiative. (2021) “Minutes To Die Documentary.” https://youtu.be/jKOSo_9kvtA

Fry, B. (2020). Antivenom’s Fatal Flaw. The University of Queensland. https://uq.edu.au/research/impact/stories/antivenoms-fatal-flaw/AntivenomFatalFlaw.pdf

Sachs, J. (2001). “Tropical Underdevelopment.” National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/papers/w8119

Afroz, A., Siddiquea, B. N., Chowdhury, H. A., Jackson, T. N., & Watt, A. D. (2024). Snakebite envenoming: A systematic review and meta-analysis of global morbidity and mortality. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 18(4), e0012080. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0012080

Wilcox, C. (2024). Powerful new antivenom raises hopes for a universal solution to lethal snakebites. https://www.science.org/content/article/powerful-new-antivenom-raises-hopes-universal-solution-lethal-snakebites