The World Will Run Out of Essential Snake Antivenom by 2016, According to Doctors Without Borders

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Snakes are basically sharks of the land—sneaky beasts chomping up everything like those wind-up teeth—but we've mostly bested the cylindrical terrors ever since the invention of antivenom. That may be about to change, since one of the most effective snakebite antivenom treatments will no longer be available, beginning as soon as 2016.

Doctors Without Borders released a statement on Monday revealing that Sanofi, a French pharmaceutical company, stopped producing their antivenom, Fav-Afrique, at the end of last year. Fav-Afrique is, according to the statement, the "world's only antivenom proven safe and effective to treat envenoming from different types of snakes across sub-saharan Africa."

"Imagine how frightening it must be to be bitten by a snake—to feel the pain and venom spread through your body," snakebite medical advisor Gabriel Doctors said in Doctors Without Borders' statement, "knowing it may kill you and there is no treatment available or that you can't afford to pay for it."

Doctors Without Borders estimates that deaths caused by snakebites will naturally rise in the absence of Fav-Afrique. Even with it, the numbers they cite are staggering—around the world, five million people are bitten by snakes each year, 100,000 of whom end up dying. Additionally, 400,000 of the snakes' victims become permanently disfigured or disabled.

CTV News reports that Sanofi discontinued the antivenom due to competitors offering cheaper (but less effective) treatments, which seems pretty scary—you don't want to have to go for the cheap knock-off brand of antivenom when your life's on the line.

At least Doctors Without Borders is trying to get awareness out there, but until the whole thing is resolved it's probably best to avoid Snake Island.