Saving Lives of Snakopathy Victims During COVID-19 Pandemic without any Mortality: A Clinico-Epidemiological Study from Rural Maharashtra, India (2021)

Background: Globally, between 81,000 and 138,000 people die eachyear from snakebite, and up to 400,000 are left permanently disabledor disfigured due to amputations of the bitten parts. India recorded astaggering 1.2 million snakebite deaths in the 20 years from 2000 to2019, with an average of 58,000 deaths caused by snakebite annually.Objectives: To study the clinical profile of the snakebite cases reportedto the Vighnahar Nursing Home Clinic in Pune during the year 2021 andthe outcome among patients during COVID-19 pandemic.Method: Details of the snakebite cases presented to the clinic wereextracted retrospectively from case records of the Vighnahar NursingHome Clinic in Pune for the year 2021 to study the pattern of morbidityand mortality among the admitted cases.Results: A total of 196 snakopathy cases presented to the clinic in 2021,the majority of them (70 %, 137) were bitten by venomous snakes,and 30% (59) were bitten by non-venomous snakes. Among venomoussnakebite patients, 71 were males and 66 females. 77 were bitten on thehands and 59 on the legs. One bite by C. Krait was on the lateral side ofthe neck. Among venomous snakes, the majority of patients were bittenby Russell’s Vipers (RV), 67% (92) and 15 each by Spectacled Cobra (SC)and Common Krait (CK), 11 by Green Pit Vipers (GPV) and only 4 bySaw Scale Vipers (SSV). CK bites were mostly around midnight, whileother snakebites were early morning or early evening. A total of 1126Anti-Snake Venom (ASV) Vials were used. Though there were only 4SSV cases, the ASV vials used were highest per patient, i.e., 15.25 vials,followed by SC, 13.5 vials, CK, 8.3 vials, and least for RV, 8.03 vials. NoASV was given to GPV patients as it does not work. Out of the total,20% were children below 20 years bitten by venomous snakes, and 24%were bitten by non- venomous snakes. No deaths were observed dueto the meticulous clinical handling of all snakopathy patients to fulfillthe objective of “Mission Zero Snakebite Death” (MZSD). How to cite this article:Raut S S, Raut S, Raut P, Bharti O K. Saving Lives ofSnakopathy Victims During COVID-19 Pandemicwithout any Mortality: A Clinico-EpidemiologicalStudy from Rural Maharashtra, India (2021). IntJ Preven Curat Comm Med. 2025;11(1):10-16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2454.325X.202503