Snake bites in Nigeria: A study of the prevalence and treatment in Benin City

Abstract

Purpose: Although snake bites occur frequently in Benin City, the prevalence has not been documented. This study was therefore done to determine the prevalence, morbidity, mortality, and the orthodox treatment of victims. Results: Males were twice more often bitten than females, and teenagers and youths in their early twenties constituted the peak age range of victims. Most victims (59.5%) were bitten in the bush or farm. The limbs were the commonest sites of bite with the feet (73.5%) and arms (20.9%) more frequently bitten; both the upper and lower right limbs were also more frequently bitten than the corresponding left limbs. All patients who showed symptoms of envenomation (68.3%) received polyvalent antivenom, 67.4% received antibiotics while over 90% of patients received antitetanus prophylaxis. Some of the patients (61.5 %) were treated with analgesics, while 17.2% and 82.3% received diazepam and intravenous fluids, respectively. Although there was a high degree of morbidity as shown by the long stay of many patients in the hospital (mean duration of stay by patients in hospital is 5.7±5.1 days; range <1-23 days), mortality was not recorded. Conclusion: It is concluded that there is a high prevalence of snake bites with high morbidity especially among the very active youthful segment of the Benin City population.

Epidemiology, ecology and human perceptions of snakebites in a savanna community of northern Ghana

“…We consistently found that young to middle-aged men (age group = 15-44 years) were most at risk of snakebites, corroborating similar findings from Ghana [22, 23, 24], other parts of West Africa [15, 25, 26, 27, 44, 46, 47] and Africa in general [30, 34, 48, 49, 50]. Adolescent and young men in their twenties are among the most active and adventurous, albeit least cautious, section of rural African people [24, 27, 44, 51]. They expose themselves to snake encounters by risky behaviour during land clearing, harvesting, bush and charcoal burning, hunting and commuting on foot during dark or early morning hours with impaired visibility in dim light and dense vegetation [24, 47, 50].…”

“…Long delays in antivenom treatment often lead to severe cases of morbidity (e.g. amputations) or death, even if such treatment is administered correctly [22, 42, 44, 45]. It is therefore important to ascertain the extent of both untreated and delayed treatments in order to address these clinical and epidemiological shortcomings in the management of snakebites in remote rural parts of Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa [2, 13, 15, 40, 42].…”

“…As agricultural mechanisation is particularly low in northern Ghana, predominantly manual activities using the limbs expose farmers to snakes concealed in vegetation, soil and crops. This may explain why those extremities are the most prone to snakebites [23, 44, 47, 51]. Farming activities primarily take place during morning or late afternoon in order to avoid excessive sun exposure and heat during midday.…”

Extraction, Purification and Characterization of Fish Chymotrypsin: A Review

“…Snakebite: Chymotrypsin has been used to treat patients with snakebite with good results (Omogbai et al, 2003). Zhang et al (2005) studied the effect of local chymotrypsin injection on patients with bites from Chinese cobra and the results showed that it had less primeval effect than local injection of antivenom but better effects than other snakebite drugs.…”

“…The hydrolyzed protein loses its toxic properties and becomes harmless to human (Zhang et al, 2005). Omogbai (2003) reported that the use of chymotrypsin to treat snakebite patients was shown effect especially for those patients with tissue inflammation and edema.…”