Naude says certain government hospitals have no antivenom, while others don't have sufficient supplies for adequate treatment of even one venomous snakebite.
Although the expedition party suffered snakebites, dysentery, various injuries, and venereal disease, only one member of the group actually died on the trip.
There was cholera, scurvy, malaria, and of course, there was always a possibility of snakebites, falls, broken bones, infections, and accidental gunshot wounds — something that happened more often than you might expect.
In North Central Anuradhapura, a 16-year old who had suffered a snakebite died as his father rushed desperately from pharmacy to pharmacy to look for the anti-venom the public hospital had run out of.
" She died of a snakebite, " Reznak mo Reznak insisted. " A ravening wolf carried her off. A sudden sickness took her. Tell them what you will, but never speak of dragons" .