Plant-based treatment of snakebites

Snakebite is listed as a neglected tropical disease by the WHO. Up to 2 5 million people are bitten each year, resulting in up to 125.000 deaths, and 400.000 permanent disabilities due to tissue necrosis. We investigated 94 plant species from Africa, which are used in traditional medicine to treat snakebites, for inhibitory activity against the necrosis enzymes hyaluronidases, phospholipase A, and proteases. Six species, which were active against one or more of the necrosis enzymes after tannins were removed, were investigated for their ability to penetrate skin and for their wound healing activity in the scratch assay. The extracts could not pass the skin membrane and showed cytotoxicity in the cell scratch assay. Therefore, none of these extracts can be recommended for treatment of snakebites which is in line with official guidelines on not using plant extracts on snakebites.