Abstract
Snakebite is a serious medical problem in Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal, India. In the present study, hospital based data on snakebite cases and deaths were collected from 10 blocks of the district to obtain a picture of this neglected public health issue. Retrospective data of snakebite and deaths from 2012 to 2016 was collected from the 5 Rural hospitals (RH) and 5 Block level Primary Health Centres(BPHC) of the ten blocks of Paschim Medinipur district in a prescribed format addressing issues including the demographic factors regarding the victims, seasonal pattern, history of snakebite in previous 5 years, outcome of the bite, any reporting of death. A total number of 1633 snakebites were reported in the study during the period of 2012-2016. The hospital data from the ten blocks reported 17 deaths due to snakebite in the given period. It was found that about 34% of the snake bites occurred from June to September. The age-wise distribution of snakebite cases show that majority of snakebite affected cases were within the age of 21-45 years. Males(62%) suffered more than the females(38%). The case fatality rate reported from the hospital based data was 1.04%. 60% of the snakebites occurred during morning to noon hours. The clinical manifestation of snakebite included regional edema in the affected limb, hypotension, malaise, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea. The bite to hospital time was found to be 120±6.5 mins(n=750 cases) and bite to ASV injection time was found to be 270±3.5 mins(n=750 cases). Snakebite is a neglected health issue in Paschim Medinipur district. Lack of snakebite data is due to under reporting. In the present study we have attempted to investigate the official data available on snakebite from 10 blocks of Paschim Medinipur district which has been identified for high snakebite incidence.
Highlights
Snake bite was included in the list of neglected tropical diseases by World Health Organization in the year 2009 [1,2]
Prior permission was obtained from Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) of Paschim Medinipur for this study
The study was conducted on a population of 2145572(32.5% of total population) from 10 blocks of Paschim Medinipur district(Fig. 1)
Summary
Snake bite was included in the list of neglected tropical diseases by World Health Organization in the year 2009 [1,2]. Accurate data are often difficult to find as bites affect rural populations in remote areas with limited access to formal health care [9]. Many estimates of snakebite incidence and mortality are based on hospital data, because other recording systems are unavailable or unreliable in most developing countries. In remote rural areas of the tropics it is estimated that a third to more than half of snakebite victims do not receive treatment at a hospital. A proportion of snakebite deaths can occur before the victims can reach a hospital, and in some instances victims with fatal bites may not attempt to use formal health care services [11]
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