Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

421,000 people poisoned by snakebites each yr-study
04 Nov 2008 00:01:11 GMT
 Source: Reuters
HONG KONG, Nov 4 (Reuters) - More than 400,000 people are poisoned by snakebites worldwide each year and 20,000 of them die, with most cases occurring in the poorest countries, researchers say.

In an article published in U.S.-based open access Public Library of Science Medicine, the researchers said the burden from snakebites was highest in South and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Data on snakebites is far from comprehensive as most of them happen in places with poor healthcare systems and where record-keeping is generally poor or non-existent.

For this study, the researchers trawled through 3,256 published articles and extracted data on 68 countries.

They said, according to a conservative estimate, there are 421,000 cases of envenoming, or venom delivered through biting, each year and which lead to at least 20,000 deaths.

But the actual figures could be several times higher.

"These figures may be as high as 1,841,000 envenomings and 94,000 deaths. Based on the fact that envenoming occurs in about one in every four snakebites, between 1.2 million and 5.5 million snakebites could occur annually," wrote the team led by Janaka de Silva at the University of Kelaniya in Sri Lanka.

India has the highest figures -- with 81,000 envenomings and 11,000 deaths each year, followed by Sri Lanka with 33,000 envenomings, Vietnam (30,000), Brazil (30,000), Mexico (28,000) and Nepal (20,000).

The researchers stressed that snakebite was a badly neglected problem in many countries as they often go unreported.

"Many victims do not seek hospital treatment and prefer traditional remedies. Some may die at home, with their deaths unrecorded," they wrote.

"Studies from rural Nigeria and Kenya have reported that only 8.5 percent and 27 percent of snakebite victims, respectively, sought hospital treatment."

The article can be found at: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document& doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050218 (Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

NGO latest

•  Mexico: ADRA Provides Emergency Kits to Hurricane Norbert Survivors
ADRA - International

•  UMCOR Hotline for October 28, 2008
UMCOR - USA

•  ACT Alert: Tamil Nadu floods, India
ACT - Switzerland

•  ACT Alert: Communal and ethnic violence - Orissa and Assam States, India
ACT - Switzerland

•  MAG Sri Lanka - January-September 2008
MAG - UK

MORE >>

Latest news

•  421,000 people poisoned by snakebites each yr-study

•  DNA tests on remains confirm Steve Fossett dead

•  Bin Laden's publicist gets life in prison

•  Bin Laden's publicist gets life in prison

•  US weekly gasoline price price lowest since Feb 07-EIA

MORE >>

AlertNet news is provided by

Background information

Facts & figures
United States of America Sri Lanka India Vietnam Brazil Mexico Nepal

Related articles

Breaking stories
 421,000 people poisoned by snakebites each yr-study (1 minute ago)

DNA tests on remains confirm Steve Fossett dead (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
 Experts call for better data on climate change migrants (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
 Mexico: ADRA Provides Emergency Kits to Hurricane Norbert Survivors (1 minute ago)

Blogs
 CLIMATE CHANGE BLOG: Does poverty equal vulnerability? (1 minute ago)

Maps
 MAP: Flooding in Central America (satellite image) (1 minute ago)


Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-11-03T125108Z_01_HAN13_RTRIDSP_2_VIETNAM-WEATHER_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/HAN13.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-11-03T124924Z_01_HAN16_RTRIDSP_2_VIETNAM-WEATHER_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/HAN16.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-11-03T124751Z_01_HAN15_RTRIDSP_2_VIETNAM-WEATHER_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/HAN15.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-11-03T124601Z_01_HAN14_RTRIDSP_2_VIETNAM-WEATHER_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/HAN14.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-11-03T124215Z_01_HAN12_RTRIDSP_2_VIETNAM-WEATHER_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/HAN12.htm

A man transports pork for sale by a bicycle along a flooded street in Hanoi November 3, 2008. Vietnamese authorities warned on Monday of disease outbreaks, including cholera and dengue fever, ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Tue Nov 4 00:04:14 2008