Open AccessHUMAN ENVENOMATIONS DUE TO SNAKEBITES IN MARILIA, STATE OF SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL. A RETROSPECTIVE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY
Author(s) -
L.P.S. Sgarbi,
Mohamad Ikram Ilias,
Tiago Ribeiro Machado,
Luis Pérez Álvarez,
Benedito Barraviera
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
the journal of venomous animals and toxins/the journal of venomous animals and toxins
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1678-4936
pISSN - 0104-7930
DOI - 10.1590/s0104-79301995000200004
Subject(s) - envenomation , epidemiology , medicine , bothrops , incidence (geometry) , tropical medicine , veterinary medicine , surgery , biology , snake venom , pathology , ecology , physics , venom , optics , biochemistry , enzyme
Eighty-four patients bitten by venomous snakes were studied retrospectively at the School of Medicine of Marilia from January 1990 to August 1994. The majority of these patients were rural workers, 65 (77.38%) males and 19 (22.62%) females, aged eight to seventy-five. Forty-three (51.19%) patients were diagnosed as having been bitten by snakes of the genus Bothrops and 41 (48.81%) by Crotalus. Fifty-eight patients (69.04%) were bitten in the legs and 26 (30.96%) in the arms. January, March, April and November were the months of higher incidence of bothropic envenomations, while crotalic envenomations were not recorded only in August and September. This study showed that the prevalence of crotalic envenomations in Marilia was higher than that of any other regions in Brazil. Further prospective epidemiological studies are needed for a better understanding of these findings