Snakebite epidemiology and health-seeking behavior in Akonolinga health district, Cameroon: Cross-sectional study.
Background Snakebite envenoming causes 81,000-138,000 annual human deaths and pain, terror, or disability in 4.5-5.4 million victims. Accurate community-based epidemiological data is scarce. Our objective was to assess snakebite incidence, mortality, and health-seeking behavior, in an affected healt...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:34735a1f652d465db41514e0054512f1 2023-05-15T15:14:42+02:00 Snakebite epidemiology and health-seeking behavior in Akonolinga health district, Cameroon: Cross-sectional study. Gabriel Alcoba Manon Chabloz Justin Eyong Franck Wanda Carlos Ochoa Eric Comte Armand Nkwescheu François Chappuis 2020-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008334 https://doaj.org/article/34735a1f652d465db41514e0054512f1 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008334 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0008334 https://doaj.org/article/34735a1f652d465db41514e0054512f1 PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 14, Iss 6, p e0008334 (2020) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008334 2022-12-31T10:59:43Z Background Snakebite envenoming causes 81,000-138,000 annual human deaths and pain, terror, or disability in 4.5-5.4 million victims. Accurate community-based epidemiological data is scarce. Our objective was to assess snakebite incidence, mortality, and health-seeking behavior, in an affected health district of Cameroon. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional multicluster household survey in Akonolinga health district, Centre Region, Cameroon, from October to December 2016. Using probability-proportional-to-size, 20 villages were randomly selected, then, all inhabited households were systematically selected. Annual incidence and adjusted odds-ratio for predictors were estimated. Findings Among the 9,924 participants, 66 suffered a snakebite during the past year: the resulting incidence is 665 (95%CI: 519-841) per 100,000 inhabitants per year. Victims were aged 5-75y (median: 34y), 53% were male and 57% farmer-cultivators. Two children died (case-fatality rate: 3%); 39 (59%) presented severity signs, including 2 (3%) neurotoxic syndromes, 20 (30%) systemic digestive syndromes, and 17 (26%) severe cytotoxic syndromes. Non-severe cases included 20 (30%) mild cytotoxic syndromes and 7 (11%) dry bites. Only two victims (3%) received antivenom. 59 (89%) used family traditional practices, 25 (38%) traditional healers, and 31 (47%) consulted health facilities. Median delays to these three care-options were 5, 45, and 60 minutes, respectively. Traditional treatments included incisions (n = 57; 86%), tourniquets (n = 51; 77%) and black-stones (n = 44; 67%). The two last procedures were also used in health facilities (n = 18). Consulting traditional healers was associated with severity (adjusted-OR: 19.6 (2.5-156), p = 0.005) and complications (aOR: 17.3, 2.4-123, p = 0.004). Long-term disabilities were subjective psychological trauma (n = 47; 71%), finger amputation (n = 1; 2%), ankylosis (n = 1; 2%) and chronic pain (n = 1; 2%). Conclusions We observed alarming levels of snakebite incidence, mortality, antivenom ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 14 6 e0008334 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
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English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Gabriel Alcoba Manon Chabloz Justin Eyong Franck Wanda Carlos Ochoa Eric Comte Armand Nkwescheu François Chappuis Snakebite epidemiology and health-seeking behavior in Akonolinga health district, Cameroon: Cross-sectional study. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Background Snakebite envenoming causes 81,000-138,000 annual human deaths and pain, terror, or disability in 4.5-5.4 million victims. Accurate community-based epidemiological data is scarce. Our objective was to assess snakebite incidence, mortality, and health-seeking behavior, in an affected health district of Cameroon. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional multicluster household survey in Akonolinga health district, Centre Region, Cameroon, from October to December 2016. Using probability-proportional-to-size, 20 villages were randomly selected, then, all inhabited households were systematically selected. Annual incidence and adjusted odds-ratio for predictors were estimated. Findings Among the 9,924 participants, 66 suffered a snakebite during the past year: the resulting incidence is 665 (95%CI: 519-841) per 100,000 inhabitants per year. Victims were aged 5-75y (median: 34y), 53% were male and 57% farmer-cultivators. Two children died (case-fatality rate: 3%); 39 (59%) presented severity signs, including 2 (3%) neurotoxic syndromes, 20 (30%) systemic digestive syndromes, and 17 (26%) severe cytotoxic syndromes. Non-severe cases included 20 (30%) mild cytotoxic syndromes and 7 (11%) dry bites. Only two victims (3%) received antivenom. 59 (89%) used family traditional practices, 25 (38%) traditional healers, and 31 (47%) consulted health facilities. Median delays to these three care-options were 5, 45, and 60 minutes, respectively. Traditional treatments included incisions (n = 57; 86%), tourniquets (n = 51; 77%) and black-stones (n = 44; 67%). The two last procedures were also used in health facilities (n = 18). Consulting traditional healers was associated with severity (adjusted-OR: 19.6 (2.5-156), p = 0.005) and complications (aOR: 17.3, 2.4-123, p = 0.004). Long-term disabilities were subjective psychological trauma (n = 47; 71%), finger amputation (n = 1; 2%), ankylosis (n = 1; 2%) and chronic pain (n = 1; 2%). Conclusions We observed alarming levels of snakebite incidence, mortality, antivenom ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gabriel Alcoba Manon Chabloz Justin Eyong Franck Wanda Carlos Ochoa Eric Comte Armand Nkwescheu François Chappuis |
author_facet |
Gabriel Alcoba Manon Chabloz Justin Eyong Franck Wanda Carlos Ochoa Eric Comte Armand Nkwescheu François Chappuis |
author_sort |
Gabriel Alcoba |
title |
Snakebite epidemiology and health-seeking behavior in Akonolinga health district, Cameroon: Cross-sectional study. |
title_short |
Snakebite epidemiology and health-seeking behavior in Akonolinga health district, Cameroon: Cross-sectional study. |
title_full |
Snakebite epidemiology and health-seeking behavior in Akonolinga health district, Cameroon: Cross-sectional study. |
title_fullStr |
Snakebite epidemiology and health-seeking behavior in Akonolinga health district, Cameroon: Cross-sectional study. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Snakebite epidemiology and health-seeking behavior in Akonolinga health district, Cameroon: Cross-sectional study. |
title_sort |
snakebite epidemiology and health-seeking behavior in akonolinga health district, cameroon: cross-sectional study. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008334 https://doaj.org/article/34735a1f652d465db41514e0054512f1 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 14, Iss 6, p e0008334 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008334 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0008334 https://doaj.org/article/34735a1f652d465db41514e0054512f1 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008334 |
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PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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14 |
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6 |
container_start_page |
e0008334 |
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1766345122811740160 |