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Abstract

Snakebite is a major life-threatening disease of many tropical and subtropical provinces particularly; Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. An estimated 5.4 million cases, 2.7 million poisonous cases, and 0.08 to 1.37 million death occurs annually because of snake bites. 1 The incidences of snakebites and associated deaths are high but the data available from many regions is often unrealistic and misleading because of lack of proper registration of snakebite. 2 The people engaged in farming, hunting, fishing and other rural activities are the most vulnerable population to the incidence of snakebite. 3,4 Because of issues relating to treatment costs, loss of earning capacity and ongoing disability, it is considered to be an occupational disease having high impact on economy in an economically vulnerable population. 5 Although, the epidemic potential of snakebite is low but the annual death rate due to snakebite is high than currently NTDs including dengue hemorrhagic fever, cholera, leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, Japanese encephalitis, and Chagas disease. 6 The World Health Organization (WHO) had taken important step and included snakebite envenomation in its NTD list in June 2017. 1