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I'm just wondering if the polyvalent that covers the other Naja in Africa is known to be effective against the newly discovered N. nubiae? I realize it's only been 2 years or so since its first naming, but I was wondering if WW or anyone else involved in the classification found out if the existing poly works against them? Thanks!
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Chance Duncan
www.rivervalleyexotics.com

Hey Chance,

If I'm not mistaken, SAIMR is not specifically labeled indicated against bites from N. pallida, or any other spitters with the exception of Hemachatus and N. nigricollis. Therefore, being that nubiae was once considered to be a form of N. pallida, and is a very close relative, I would think it unlikely to be very effective for bites. There may be some reactivity, maybe WW or BGF can enlighten us with their knowledge

>>I'm just wondering if the polyvalent that covers the other Naja in Africa is known to be effective against the newly discovered N. nubiae? I realize it's only been 2 years or so since its first naming, but I was wondering if WW or anyone else involved in the classification found out if the existing poly works against them? Thanks!

There has been no experimental work on this, and I am not aware of any described case histories of N. nubiae envenoming, so there is no hard data. As far as it is possible to tell, the S. African polyvalent antivenom seems to be reasonably effective against all the African cobra venoms, so I would expect it to have some activity against N. nubiae as well. Having said that, since N. nubiae venom is likely to cause primarily necrosis in humans, like other African spitting cobras, and the usefulness of the antivenom in preventing necrosis is open to question anyhow (especially if not given within the first few hours after the bite), this is likely to be a pretty academic question.

Cheers,

Wolfgang
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WW Home

Thanks for the reply Dr. Wuster. I was thiking SAVP was somewhat effective against all African Naja, but wasn't sure about nubiae. It would be reasonable to conclude that nubiae, being so close to pallida, would also be affected. I'm glad you pointed about the necrosis part though. It seems like a lot of people look over the necrotic properties of cobra venom and only think about the neurotoxic components.
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Chance Duncan
www.rivervalleyexotics.com

>>I'm just wondering if the polyvalent that covers the other Naja in Africa is known to be effective against the newly discovered N. nubiae? I realize it's only been 2 years or so since its first naming, but I was wondering if WW or anyone else involved in the classification found out if the existing poly works against them? Thanks!

There has been no experimental work on this, and I am not aware of any described case histories of N. nubiae envenoming, so there is no hard data. As far as it is possible to tell, the S. African polyvalent antivenom seems to be reasonably effective against all the African cobra venoms, so I would expect it to have some activity against N. nubiae as well. Having said that, since N. nubiae venom is likely to cause primarily necrosis in humans, like other African spitting cobras, and the usefulness of the antivenom in preventing necrosis is open to question anyhow (especially if not given within the first few hours after the bite), this is likely to be a pretty academic question.

Cheers,

Wolfgang
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WW Home

>>>>I'm just wondering if the polyvalent that covers the other Naja in Africa is known to be effective against the newly discovered N. nubiae? I realize it's only been 2 years or so since its first naming, but I was wondering if WW or anyone else involved in the classification found out if the existing poly works against them? Thanks!
>>
>>There has been no experimental work on this, and I am not aware of any described case histories of N. nubiae envenoming, so there is no hard data. As far as it is possible to tell, the S. African polyvalent antivenom seems to be reasonably effective against all the African cobra venoms, so I would expect it to have some activity against N. nubiae as well. Having said that, since N. nubiae venom is likely to cause primarily necrosis in humans, like other African spitting cobras, and the usefulness of the antivenom in preventing necrosis is open to question anyhow (especially if not given within the first few hours after the bite), this is likely to be a pretty academic question.
>>
>>Cheers,
>>
>>Wolfgang
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>> WW Home
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