Abstract
Despite significant and successful efforts in Brazil regarding snakebites in the areas of research, antivenom manufacture and quality control, training of health professionals in the diagnosis and clinical management of bites, little is known about determinants of snakebites incidence in order to further plan interventions to reduce the impact of this medical condition. Understanding the complexity of ecological interactions in a geographical region is important for prediction, prevention and control measures of snakebites. This investigation aims to describe spatial distribution and identify environmental determinants of human envenoming by lancehead pit vipers (Bothrops genus), in the Brazilian Amazon. Aggregated data by the municipality was used to analyze the spatial distribution of Bothrops bites cases and its relationship with geographic and environmental factors. Eight geo-environmental factors were included in the analysis as independent variables: (1) tree canopy loss increase; (2) area with vegetation cover; (3) area covered by water bodies; (4) altitude; (5) precipitation; (6) air relative humidity; (7) soil moisture; and (8) air temperature. Human envenoming by lancehead pit vipers (Bothrops genus) in the Amazon region is more incident in lowlands [Adjusted regression coefficient [ARC] -0.0007 (IC95%: -0.001; -0.0006), p<0.0001], with high preserved original vegetation cover [ARC 0.0065 (IC95%: 0.0071; 0.0060), p<0.0001], with heaviest rainfall [ARC 0.0001 (IC95%: 0.00009; 0.0001), p<0.0001] and higher air relative humidity [ARC 0.0082 (IC95%: 0.0108; 0.0056), p<0.0001]. This association is interpreted as the result of the higher prey availability and further abundance of pit vipers in such landscapes.
Highlights
The neotropical pit viper clade of Bothrops and Bothrocophias is distributed throughout South America and associated continental islands, and includes species that range into Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean [1,2,3,4]
Five of them (Bothrops lutzi, B. marmoratus, B. mattogrossensis, B. moojeni, and B. pauloensis) are present only in cerrado areas, while the others are characteristic of the Amazon rainforest environments (Bothrops atrox, B. bilineatus, B. brazili, B. marajoensis, B. taeniatus, Bothrocophias hyoprora e B. microphthalmus) [4,18] (Fig 1)
In the Brazilian Amazon, urban population predominates, most of the snakebites were recorded in adult males living in rural areas
Summary
The neotropical pit viper clade of Bothrops and Bothrocophias is distributed throughout South America and associated continental islands, and includes species that range into Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean [1,2,3,4]. The Amazonian lancehead, inhabits mostly forests, it may be occasionally found in disturbed habitats around human settlements, including deforested areas (pastures and crops) and in urban environments [4,16,18,19,20,21] This snake is the responsible for more cases and fatalities in the Amazon than any other venomous snakes, causing 80–90% of the snake envenoming in the region [22]. Despite significant and successful efforts in Brazil regarding snakebites in the areas of toxin research, antivenom manufacture and quality control, training of health professionals in the diagnosis and clinical management of bites, little is known about determinants of snakebites incidence in order to further plan interventions to reduce the impact of this medical condition The aim of this investigation is to describe spatial distribution and identify environmental determinants of human envenoming by lancehead pit vipers (Bothrops genus), in the Brazilian Amazon
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