Neglected snakebite injury and harmful practices in rural settings: A report of an 8-year-old child from Nigeria

Aliyu, Ibrahim; Michael, Godpower Chinedu; Ibrahim, Haliru; Idris, Umma; Akuhwa, R T

doi:10.4103/ljms.ljms_67_18

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These cultural practices widely practiced in our environment are contrary to the recommended WHO pre-hospital care for patients with snakebite [ 5 ]. These practices have also been shown to be unhelpful and may even worsen the patient’s condition and outcome in some instances [ 24 - 25 ]. It might also lead to a delay in presentation to the health facility, as seen in the majority of our patients, thereby militating against the administration of snake antivenin within four hours of the bite as recommended by the WHO [ 26 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence and Outcome of Snake Bites Among Children Admitted in the Emergency Pediatric Unit, Federal Medical Centre, Birnin Kebbi, Nigeria

Sanni¹,

Lawal²,

Musa³

et al. 2021

Cureus

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction Snakebites are common and constitute an important health problem in many countries of the world, with the greatest burden occurring in rural areas of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. They were classified by the World Health Organization as category A of neglected tropical diseases. Most studies on snake envenoming in Nigeria were among adult populations with few among children. This study assessed the prevalence and outcome of snakebite among children in Federal Medical Centre, Birnin Kebbi. Methods This was a four-year retrospective study in which the medical records of patients with managed snakebite were reviewed. A study proforma was used to obtain information on socio-demographic characteristics, site of the bite, features of envenoming, pre-hospitalization intervention, hospital treatment, length of hospitalization, and outcome of treatment of the patients. Results There were 19 snakebite cases out of 5,195 admissions during the period under review, giving a prevalence of 0.0037 (3.7/1000) with a male:female ratio of 2:1. The majority (66.7%) of the children were aged between 11 and 15 years and the mean (± SD) age of the study population was 10.5 (± 3.3) years. The lower limb was the site of bite in 10 (55.6%) of the patients and clinical features included local pain (100%), local swelling of varying magnitude (16 (88.9%)), spontaneous bleeding eight (44.4%) among others. Ten (55.65%) patients presented after four hours of bite and the mean (±SD) duration of hospitalization was 2.11 (±0.58) days. Most (77.8%) received at least one form of pre-hospital care while only 66.7% received polyvalent anti-snake venin. The case fatality rate was 5.6% while 55.6% of patients signed against medical advice. Conclusion There was a low hospital prevalence of snakebite in children in the present study location with associated low mortality but a high rate of discharge against medical advice. Most of the patients had a pre-hospital intervention and anti-snake venin is not readily accessible.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%