Analysis of commercially available snake antivenoms reveals high contents of endotoxins in some products
Gabriela Solano,
Stuart Ainsworth,
Adriana Sánchez,
Mauren Villalta,
Paola Sánchez,
Gina Durán,
José María Gutiérrez,
Guillermo León
Affiliations
Gabriela Solano
Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
Stuart Ainsworth
Department of Infection Biology and Microbiomes, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L3 5RF, UK; Centre for Snakebite Research and Interventions, Department of Tropical Disease Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5QA, United Kingdom
Adriana Sánchez
Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
Mauren Villalta
Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
Paola Sánchez
Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
Gina Durán
Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
José María Gutiérrez
Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
Guillermo León
Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica; Corresponding author.
As injectable therapeutics, snake antivenoms must meet specifications for endotoxin content. The Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) test was used to evaluate the endotoxin content in several commercially available antivenoms released for clinical use. It was found that some products have endotoxin concentrations higher than the accepted limit for these contaminants. These results emphasize the need to include endotoxin determination as part of the routine evaluation of antivenoms by manufacturers and regulatory agencies.
