Access to antivenoms is not guarranteed for vulnerable populations that inhabit remote areas in the Amazon. The study of therapeutic itineraries (TI) for treatment of snakebites would support strategies to provide timely access to users. A TI is the set of processes by which individuals adhere to certain forms of treatment, and includes the path traveled in the search for healthcare, and practices to solve their health problems. This study aims to describe TIs of snakebite patients in the Brazilian Amazon. This study was carried out at the Fundação de Medicina Tropical Doutor Heitor Vieira Dourado, in Manaus, state of Amazonas, Brazil. The itinerary from the moment of the bite to the patient’s admission to the reference unit was analyzed. Sample size was defined by saturation. After an exploratory survey to collect epidemiological variables, in-depth interviews were conducted following a semi-structured guide. Patients originated from rural areas of 11 different municipalities, including ones located >500 kilometers from Manaus. A great fragmentation was observed in the itineraries, marked by several changes of means of transport along the route. Four themes emerged from the analysis: exposure to snakebite during day-to-day activities, use of traditional therapeutic practices, and personal perception of the severity, as well as the route taken and its contingencies. Access to healthcare requires considerable effort on the part of snakebite patients. Major barriers were identified, such as the low number of hospitals that offer antivenom treatment, poor access to healthcare due to long distances and geographic barriers, low acceptability of healthcare offered in countryside, lack of use of personal protective equipment, common use of ineffective or deleterious self-care practices, late recognition of serious clinical signs and resistance to seeking medical assistance. Health education, promotion of immediate transport to health centers and decentralization of antivenom from reference hospitals to community healthcare centers in the Brazilian Amazon are more effective strategies that would to maximize access to antivenom treatment.

In the Brazilian Amazon, long distances, low healthcare coverage, common use of ineffective or deleterious self-care practices, and resistance to seeking medical assistance have an impact on access to antivenom treatment. This study aimed to estimate snakebite underreporting, and analyze barriers that prevent victims from obtaining healthcare in communities located in 15 municipalities on the banks of the Solimões, Juruá and Purus Rivers, in the remote Western Brazilian Amazon. Information on the participants’ demographics, previous snakebites, access to healthcare, time taken to reach medical assistance, use of self-care practices, and the reason for not accessing healthcare were collected through semi-structured interviews. In the case of deaths, information was collected by interviewing parents, relatives or acquaintances. A total of 172 participants who reported having suffered snakebites during their lifetime were interviewed. A total of 73 different treatment procedures was reported by 65.1% of the participants. Participants living in different river basins share few self-care procedures that use traditional medicine, and 91 (52.9%) participants reported that they had access to healthcare. Living in communities along the Juruá River [OR = 12.6 (95% CI = 3.2–49.7; p<0.001)] and the use of traditional medicine [OR = 11.6 (95% CI = 3.4–39.8; p<0.001)] were variables that were independently associated to the lack of access to healthcare. The main reasons for not accessing healthcare were the pprioritization of traditional treatments (70.4%), and the failure to recognize the situation as being potentially severe (50.6%). Four deaths from complications arising from the snakebite were reported, and three of these were from communities on the banks of the Juruá River. Only one of these received medical assistance. We found an unexpectedly high underreporting of snakebite cases and associated deaths. Snakebite victims utilized three main different healing systems: 1) self-care using miscellaneous techniques; 2) official medical healthcare generally combined with traditional practices; and 3) self-care using traditional practices combined with Western medicines. To mitigate snakebite burden in the Brazilian Amazon, an innovative intervention that would optimize timely delivery of care, including antivenom distribution among existing community healthcare centers, is needed.

Snakebite envenoming (SBE) is a neglected tropical disease with significant global morbidity and mortality. Even when antivenom is available in low-resource areas, health workers do not receive adequate training to manage SBEs. This study aims to develop and validate a clinical practice guideline (CPG) for SBE management across Brazil. A panel of expert judges with academic and/or technical expertise in SBE management performed content validation. The content validity index (CVI) score was 90% for CPG objectives, 89% for structure and presentation and 92% for relevance and classified the CPG as valid. A semantic validation was performed by analyzing focus group discussions with doctors and nurses from three municipalities of the Brazilian Amazon, after a 5-day meeting during which the CPG was presented. Two central themes emerged: knowledge acquired during the meeting and recommendations for improving the CPG. Based on these results, the CPG was revised into a final version. This study presents the successful development and validation process of a CPG for SBE management, which is targeted to a specific low-resource, high-burden setting. This development and validation process can be adapted to other settings and/or other neglected tropical diseases.