Preliminaries; CONTENTS; INTRODUCTION; RABIES AND ENVENOMINGS; EPIDEMIOLOGY; PRODUCTION AND CONTROL OF THERAPEUTIC ANTISERA; DISTRIBUTION AND APPROPRIATE USE OF THERAPEUTIC ANTISERA; SCALES OF PRODUCTION; PREQUALIFICATION OF ANTISERA; TOWARDS A GLOBAL SOLUTION; REFERENCES; LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
Summary
This publication reports on a Consultative Meeting convened to discuss strategies for improving the quality and quantity of therapeutic antisera, essential drugs for the effective treatment of suspected rabid dog bites, and envenoming by snake bites and scorpion stings. Inadequacies in the efficacy, safety and production of these antisera have created a major global public health crisis, especially in Africa and Asia. Each year, millions of people are bitten by dogs or snakes or stung by scorpions, and the failure to provide antisera costs at least 150,000 lives and at least as many cases of p