THE NATIONAL (Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea) 03 March 08 Snakes alive! (Malum Nalu)

David ‘Snakeman’ Williams has been hitting the headlines all over Papua New Guinea, Australia and the world (through the Internet) over the last couple of days.

The Port Moresby-based snake expert has been in the news because of his expose of massive theft and corruption involving millions of kina worth of snake anti-venom at the Area Medical Store in the national capital.

Then came his controversial appearance on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Foreign Correspondent programme two weeks ago, on which he exposed a well-known pharmaceutical company selling a suspect Indian anti-venom, with the cameo appearance of Health Minister Sasa Zibe.

Williams was bitten by a deadly Papuan Taipan - now known as the deadliest snake in the world - during the filming of the programme but survived by the skin of his teeth after the last remaining vial of anti-venom at the Port Moresby General Hospital was injected into him.

I jokingly told him during an interview at his base at the Medical School two weeks ago, surrounded by cages of Papuan Taipans with enough venom to kill a whole battalion, that he might have become another Steve Irwin, but he just laughed this off, saying that he was never out to become a star.

Williams was in the news again this week as the managing director of the pharmaceutical company came out in the Post-Courier accusing him and the ABC of sensationalising the whole issue of Indian anti-venom, which the MD said was alright to treat snakebite victims in Papua New Guinea.

It was akin to disturbing a whole nest of Papua Taipans as snake experts from around the world came out in defence of their colleague, accusing the MD and his company of profiteering at the expense of the lives of Papua New Guineans.

I was inundated by emails from these snake experts who were furious that the MD had the audacity to undermine the work of Williams.

“Human life is valuable,” wrote former Papua New Guinea-based herpetologist Mark O’Shea, who wrote the accepted seminal book on the subject A Guide to the Snakes of Papua New Guinea (Independent Group, Port Moresby 1996).

“We all only get one chance at it and what David Williams and AVRU are trying to do, and ABC Foreign Correspondent was trying to publicise, is the need for more controls on anti-venom distribution within PNG to save the lives of Papua New Guineans bitten by venomous snakes.

“If (named) has his way, everyone would be buying his Indian anti-venom at hugely inflated prices and he will get rich on the proceeds.

“I can tell you one thing about his customers however, if they use his Indian anti-venom to treat a snakebite in PNG, they are unlikely come back and buy further stocks, because they will be dead.”

David Williams has worked professionally as a herpetologist for the majority of his adult life, principally working with highly-venomous terrestrial and sea snakes, crocodiles and other potentially-dangerous reptiles.

He has worked with many of the world’s most dangerous snakes and other reptiles, and occasionally features in documentaries for the National Geographic Channel.

He has a particular interest in snakebite epidemiology and clinical management, snake venoms and anti-venoms and is currently conducting research on these topics in Papua New Guinea in order to obtain his PhD in Medicine from the University of Melbourne’s School of Medicine.

He previously graduated from James Cook University with an undergraduate award in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and a postgraduate award for work on snake bite epidemiology in PNG from the JCU School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine

He is a PNG National Department of Health-sponsored, University of Papua New Guinea-affiliated, researcher who has been involved in a large epidemiological study of snakebite in southern Papua New Guinea since 2001.

He has accumulated extensive field experience throughout Papua New Guinea over the last 10 years, and a wide network of local contacts in some of the most-remote regions of the country.

In 2004, Williams led a group from Australian Venom Research Unit (AVRU) who developed a national course in the treatment of venomous bites and stings for PNG health workers and doctors.

In 2005, he was the senior editor of “Venomous bites and stings in Papua New Guinea: A guide to treatment for health workers and doctors”, PNG’s first textbook on the treatment and management of injuries caused by venomous animals.

Williams is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne under the supervision of Dr Kenneth Winkel, and based in Port Moresby, where he is conducting a number of research projects.

In collaboration with Dr Lohi Matainaho from the University of Papua New Guinea, he has established a fledgling National Reference Collection of live venomous snakes at the University Medical School, and is assisting a number of local students and doctors with projects related to the treatment of snakebite.

Over the past four years they have been focusing on addressing a number of key issues relating to the issue of snake bite in Papua New Guinea.

These include:

- Defining and understanding the clinical syndromes of snake bite;

- Educating PNG’s health work force;

- Providing information resources;

- Collecting information on the incidence of snake bites;

- Understanding what types of snakes occur throughout PNG;

- Examining anti-venom use and distribution;

- Developing new anti-venoms for PNG that will increase supplies and reduce costs;

- Basic training for UPNG scientists;

- Teaching snake bite first aid in rural communities; and

- Trialing Snake Venom Detection Kits.

“I am directly involved in all of the activities outlined above, as well as having other roles, such as going out and catching the venomous snakes for use in our research and for anti-venom development.

“I am also the advocate for PNG’s past, present and future snake bite patients.

“Snake bite is a largely ignored tropical illness compared to high-profile infectious diseases such as malaria or tuberculosis, yet in some parts of PNG, snake bite kills up to three times more people than malaria, and nearly four times more people than tuberculosis.

“I am the only person in PNG who is speaking up for the needs of snake bite patients, and I see this as an important role, because unless awareness of the problem is raised, and unless the corrupt individuals who are profiting from people’s suffering by stealing anti-venoms and selling them on the black-market are targeted by someone like myself, nothing will ever change.”
Snakes alive!

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• PNG Press: Snakes alive! 'David Williams - W von Papineäu, Mon Mar 3 10:41:28 2008