Snakebites in southwestern Goiás State, Brazil

The present study evaluated snakebite cases recorded by the Southwest II Regional Health Bureau [Regional de Saúde Sudoeste II], Goiás State, Brazil. The following data were analyzed: accident period; patient's age and gender; bite site; envenomation severity; and time elapsed between the bite...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases
Main Authors: U. P. Pacheco, M. Zortéa
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: SciELO 2008
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-91992008000100011
https://doaj.org/article/ca1cd49be6a9411298f7a61e5f9b2d5b
Description
Summary:The present study evaluated snakebite cases recorded by the Southwest II Regional Health Bureau [Regional de Saúde Sudoeste II], Goiás State, Brazil. The following data were analyzed: accident period; patient's age and gender; bite site; envenomation severity; and time elapsed between the bite and medical treatment. We evaluated 211 cases recorded between January 2002 and December 2005, which resulted in an incidence coefficient of 32.4/100,000 inhabitants. Most accidents were due to the bite of snakes from the Bothrops genus (78.2%). The months between January and April had a larger number of accidents (93%-44.1%), although no significant differences were observed. Only one death occurred, resulting in a mortality rate of 0.5%. The lower limbs were the most frequently affected (66.3%). The majority of the victims were male (75.1%). The age group of most of the patients was from 21 to 30 years (20.8%). The accidents were classified as mild, moderate and severe, representing 44.9%, 47.6% and 7.5% of the cases, respectively. The time elapsed between the accident and medical treatment was less than 3h in most of the cases (80.7%), reflecting the high frequency of mild and moderate accidents (92.5%) as well as the large number of healed patients.