Snakebite Special Issue published on World NTD Day

Today, on World Neglected Tropical Disease Day, RSTMH has published a Special Issue on ‘Addressing the snakebite challenge - progress towards the 2030 roadmap’ in its journal Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine.

Snakebite is one of a group of 21 preventable and treatable conditions which are associated with devastating health, social and economic consequences grouped as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

The Guest Editors of the Special Issue are Dr Maya Gopalakrishnan, from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jodhpur, and Dr Frank Tianyi, from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

We would like to thank the authors for providing a rich and diverse collection of articles based on their unparalleled experiences and the many reviewers for the time they have spent enriching the manuscripts. We are also grateful to all the research participants and their families. We trust that the journal readers will enjoy this collection, and hope that it will serve as a repository and reference for the future.

Dr Maya Gopalakrishnan

This broad and comprehensive Special Issue builds upon the support for snakebite projects that have been funded through the Early Career Grants Programme at RSTMH. We recognise the central role of early career researchers in high burden countries and wish to emphasise the importance of creating a pipeline of next generation snakebite experts working on the frontline. These researchers’ have received immense support from the Wellcome Trust and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and we call on other funders to join this initiative.

Dr Frank Tianyi

The Special Issue forms a collection of 43 articles from across 17 countries on the subject of snakebite envenoming, presenting a range of articles from across the world and in particular from regions with the highest burden of snakebite.

Firstly, I would like to thank Frank and Maya for their hard work throughout the entirety of this project. It has been a pleasure to work with them and their dedication, commitment, and passion has resulted in a diverse collection of articles that we are all very proud of and that we hope will have a lasting impact on snakebite research. Thanks to the authors who submitted their work to us and the many reviewers who volunteered their time to assess the papers - we look forwarding to showcasing work from within the Special Issue in the coming months.

Tom Pinfield, RSTMH Managing Editor

Read a blog from Tom Pinfield on the Special Issue here.

Read the Special Issue here.