Abstract
Snakebite envenoming is a life-threatening disease in humans and animals and a major public health issue in rural communities of South-East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Yet the impact of snakebite on domestic animals has been poorly studied. This study aimed to describe the context, clinical features, treatment, and outcomes of snakebite envenoming in domestic animals in Nepal and Cameroon. Primary data on snakebite in animals were recorded from a community-based nation-wide survey on human and animal snakebite in Nepal and Cameroon (Snake-byte project). Mobile teams collected data on snakebite in humans and animals in 13,879 and 10,798 households in Nepal and Cameroon respectively from December 2018 to June 2019. This study included 405 snakebite cases (73 in Nepal and 332 in Cameroon) in multiple types of animals. An interview with a structured questionnaire collected specific information about the animal victims.Snake bites in animals took place predominantly inside and around the house or farm in Nepal (92%) and Cameroon (71%). Other frequent locations in Cameroon were field or pasture (12%). A large diversity of clinical features was reported in all types of envenomed animals. They showed either a few clinical signs (e.g., local swelling, bleeding) or a combination of multiple clinical signs. Only 9% of animal victims, mainly cattle and buffaloes and less frequently goats, sheep, and dogs, received treatment, predominantly with traditional medicine. The overall mortality of snakebite was 85% in Nepal and 87% in Cameroon.Results from this nationwide study show an important impact of snakebite on animal health in Nepal and Cameroon. There is a need for cost-effective prevention control strategies and affordable snakebite therapies in the veterinary field to save animal lives and farmer livelihood in the poorest countries of the world. The WHO global strategy to prevent and control snakebite envenoming supports a One Health approach, which may help develop integrated solutions to the snakebite problem taking into account human and animal health.
Highlights
Snakebite envenoming is an acute, potentially lifethreatening disease that affects both people and domestic animals
We showed that snakebite causes a diversity of clinical manifestations in all types of livestock an imals and high mortality
There is a need for snakebite prevention strategies and affordable therapies in the veteri nary field because snake antivenom production is currently prioritized for human use
Summary
Snakebite envenoming (snakebite) is an acute, potentially lifethreatening disease that affects both people and domestic animals. The survival rate was 88% in these animals that were all treated with polyvalent antivenom at a veterinary hospital (Bhikane et al, 2020) Apart from this larger study, only a few clinical case reports exist for snakebite in cattle in India and Pakistan (Farooq et al, 2014; Kachhawa et al, 2016; Senthilkumar et al, 2018; Ali and Arul, 2020; Arul et al, 2020), in goats and sheep in India (Sivaraman et al, 2016; Prasanth et al, 2017; Sakhare et al, 2019; Venkatesakumar et al, 2020), in pigs in Zimbabwe (Stewart, 1974), and poultry in Nigeria (Onoviran et al, 1976; Lawal et al, 1992). Snakebite is not a notifiable disease, is not offi cially reported in humans nor animals, and the burden of this disease is largely underestimated
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