Snakes that catches people

Dhenkanal: The Dhenkanal district has its share of beauty
surrounded by peaks, moderate temperature, water bodies along with diverse family of reptiles that include snake in prominence. If Dhenkanal citizens enjoy serene beauty over head, they are often cautioned of serpentines on earth.

Envenoming - to make somebody poisonous - resulting from snake bites is a particularly important public health problem in rural areas. “A recent study estimates that at least 421,000 envenomings and 20,000 deaths occur worldwide from snakebite each year, but warns that these figures may be as high as 1,841,000 envenomings and 94,000 deaths”, says a WHO statement provided by Dr. Sujata Rani Misra, Asst District Medical Officer, District Headquarters’ Hospital (DHH), Dhenkanal.

The major groups of snakes causing envenoming are the elapids (cobras, kraits, mambas etc.) and vipers, and in some regions, sea snakes. Mr Sreenu Appikonda of Dhenkanal Science Centre informed that of these, Russell’s viper, Bamboo-pit viper, Banded krait, Common krait, King cobra, Spectacled cobra are the highly poisonous breeds that exists and catches people in Dhenkanal.

Snake venom is a complex mixture of many different compounds. “The clinical features of the bites of venomous snakes reflect the effects of venom components. These include swelling of the bitten limb to skin and muscle necrosis, abnormal blood clotting, hypotension and shock, neurotoxicity sometimes leading to paralysis of respiratory muscles requiring assisted ventilation”, added Dr. Misra.

Envenoming following snakebite is largely a neglected threat to public health. It affects mainly the poor in deprived rural areas where health facilities are limited and anti-venoms may be hard to obtain. To combat this menace, “DHH Dhenkanal is equipped with anti-snake venom serum polyvalent vaccines, as the varieties of snakes are vivid in this region”, claims Dr. Misra, who treats 12 patients of envenoming every week.