What is the impact of snakebite envenoming on domestic animals? A nation-wide community-based study in Nepal and Cameroon

Isabelle Bolon; Sara Babo Martins; Carlos Ochoa; Gabriel Alcoba; María Herrera; Henri Magloire Bofia Boyogueno; Barun Kumar Sharma; Manish Subedi; Bhupendra Shah; Franck Wanda; Sanjib Kumar Sharma; Armand Seraphin Nkwescheu; Nicolas Ray; François Chappuis; Rafael Ruiz de Castañeda

doi:10.1016/j.toxcx.2021.100068

What is the impact of snakebite envenoming on domestic animals? A nation-wide community-based study in Nepal and Cameroon

Toxicon X. 2021 Jun 5:9-10:100068. doi: 10.1016/j.toxcx.2021.100068. eCollection 2021 Jul.

Authors

Isabelle Bolon¹, Sara Babo Martins¹, Carlos Ochoa^{1

2}, Gabriel Alcoba^{1

3

4}, María Herrera⁵, Henri Magloire Bofia Boyogueno⁶, Barun Kumar Sharma⁷, Manish Subedi⁸, Bhupendra Shah⁸, Franck Wanda⁹, Sanjib Kumar Sharma⁸, Armand Seraphin Nkwescheu^{10

11}, Nicolas Ray^{1

2}, François Chappuis³, Rafael Ruiz de Castañeda¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Global Health, Department of Community Health and Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Chemin des mines 9, 1202, Geneva, Switzerland.
² Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, 66 boulevard Carl-Vogt, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland.
³ Division of Tropical and Humanitarian Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), Department of Community Health and Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, 24 rue Micheli-du-Crest, Geneva 14, 1211, Switzerland.
⁴ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Rue de Lausanne 78, 1202, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁵ Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, 11501-2060, Costa Rica.
⁶ Ministère de l'Elevage, des Pêches et des Industries Animales (MINEPIA), Direction des Services Vétérinaires, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
⁷ Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Singhadurbar, Kathmandu, Nepal.
⁸ B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS), Buddha Road, Dharan, 56700, Nepal.
⁹ Centre International de Recherche, d'Enseignement et de Soins en Milieu Tropical (CIRES), BP 11 Akonolinga, Cameroon.
¹⁰ Cameroon Society of Epidemiology (CaSE), P.O.Box 1411, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
¹¹ Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Science, University of Yaoundé 1, Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Abstract

Snakebite envenoming is a life-threatening disease in humans and animals and a major public health issue in rural communities of South-East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Yet the impact of snakebite on domestic animals has been poorly studied. This study aimed to describe the context, clinical features, treatment, and outcomes of snakebite envenoming in domestic animals in Nepal and Cameroon. Primary data on snakebite in animals were recorded from a community-based nation-wide survey on human and animal snakebite in Nepal and Cameroon (Snake-byte project). Mobile teams collected data on snakebite in humans and animals in 13,879 and 10,798 households in Nepal and Cameroon respectively from December 2018 to June 2019. This study included 405 snakebite cases (73 in Nepal and 332 in Cameroon) in multiple types of animals. An interview with a structured questionnaire collected specific information about the animal victims. Snake bites in animals took place predominantly inside and around the house or farm in Nepal (92%) and Cameroon (71%). Other frequent locations in Cameroon were field or pasture (12%). A large diversity of clinical features was reported in all types of envenomed animals. They showed either a few clinical signs (e.g., local swelling, bleeding) or a combination of multiple clinical signs. Only 9% of animal victims, mainly cattle and buffaloes and less frequently goats, sheep, and dogs, received treatment, predominantly with traditional medicine. The overall mortality of snakebite was 85% in Nepal and 87% in Cameroon. Results from this nationwide study show an important impact of snakebite on animal health in Nepal and Cameroon. There is a need for cost-effective prevention control strategies and affordable snakebite therapies in the veterinary field to save animal lives and farmer livelihood in the poorest countries of the world. The WHO global strategy to prevent and control snakebite envenoming supports a One Health approach, which may help develop integrated solutions to the snakebite problem taking into account human and animal health.

Keywords: Antivenom; Community-based survey; Ethno-veterinary medicine; Livestock; One Health; Snakebite.