Snake bites frequency and ethnopharmacological study of plants used against ophidian’s envenomation (Bassar district)

Abstract

The snake bites victims’ proportion is not well known among the population and statistical values are not available to consider snake bites as a significant cause of death especially in rural Africa. In Togo, the rural population uses various plants for the treatment of snake bites. The objective of this work is to conduct two types of surveys, namely the prospective survey and the retrospective survey in Bassar district (Togo) to obtain scientific data on cases of snake bites in rural areas and plants species use in snake bites treatment. The results obtained show that the population at risk is made up of men (70.2%) aged between 20 and 40 years, mostly farmers (58.3%). There are more snake bites in the rainy season (80.8 %). Echis ocellatus is responsible for 78.3 % of bite cases followed by Bitis arietens (8.7%). Twenty-two plant species have been recorded and Annona senegalensis, Securidaca longepedunculata and Hannoa undulata are the most cited. These results prove that snake bites remain a significant public health problem, especially in rural areas.