Epidemiological study of anti-snake venom use in snake bite patients: 2015

Background: Snake bites are the common cause of morbidity and mortality in tropical countries. Snake bite is a serious problem in many sectors, especially in south Asian countries. Snake-bite has become an occupational disease. The main objective is to study the demographics and ASV use, assess whether ASV has been given or not for patients who had been treated in hospitals in the management of poisonous snake bites in the scenario of global ASV scarcity. Methods: Patients of snake bites with signs of envenomation were included in this observational, prospective study. Non-envenomation and died patient were excluded. Immediately, low dose (30 to 50 ml) of ASV was started and patients were kept under intensive observation with supportive care & titrated up to 500 ml. Results: Among the 156 patients, there were 74 males and 82 females. 91 patients had vasculotoxic, 43 patients had neurotoxic and 20 patients had mixed type of envenomation. In study, Average dose of ASV given was 48.11 ml. Conclusions: The epidemiological study shows the epidemics of the ASV use, those who came earlier to hospital required a low dose of ASV to save lives of victims of poisonous snake bites with good supportive management.