A farmer while working on his farm was bitten by a poisonous snake. The workers in the farm immediately rushed him to the nearby health centre. The doctor right away gave him an injection to save his life. What did the doctor inject and why? Explain.

Snakes inject venom using their salivary glands. In envenomation, the venom passes from the venom gland through a duct into the snake's teeth, and finally into the victim. All bites not lead to envenomation. Snakes can adjust whether to release venom and how much to release. Dry Bites, where no venom is injected to the host occur in 25%-50% of snake bites. Snake venom is a combination of numerous substances with varying effects. The venom is composed of protein and it can be categorized into 4 groups which are cyto-toxins (local tissue damage), hemo-toxins (internal bleeding), neuro-toxins (affect the nervous system) and cardio-toxins act directly on the heart. Snakebites are common in tropical regions and mainly agricultural lands. Two major families of snakes are the most venomous snakes dangerous to humans, the elapid family and the viper family. Diagnosis of snakebite is made based on the history, identification or description of the snake, that help to develop a treatment, not all snakes are venomous and different kinds of anti-venom present for different species of snakes that are venomous. A bite of a venomous snake is not life-threatening; the severity depends on the location of the bite and the age and health of the victim. If the bite is not serious, the treatment is by cleaning the wound and giving the victim a tetanus vaccine. If the situation is life-threatening, the patient should be administered with anti-venom, the substance created with snake venom to counter the snake bite symptoms. It’s injected into the victim.