Clinico-epidemiological profile and outcome of snakebite patients presented to a teaching institute - A descriptive retrospective review

Snakebites are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in India despite availability of anti-snake venom and the absence of a large number of highly venomous snakes. This may be attributed to treatment seeking behaviour of the population. The study aims to find out common clinical features, outcome, and delay in arrival time to the hospital in snakebite cases. This is a cross-sectional retrospective record-based study among the patients presented with a history of snakebites to the Basaveshwara Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Chitradurga, conducted from 1 January 2019 to 31 January 2021. Out of the 96 patients, the majority of snakebite victims were male and of an age group of 21-30 years. The most common site for snakebite was the lower limb, and about 57.2% of patients had visible fang marks. Among snake species identified, the most common was krait bites, followed by cobra bites. Neurotoxic envenomation manifestation and severe presentation were found in almost half (53.1%) of the cases. Almost half of the patients took 1-4 hours to arrive at the health facility. Surprisingly, only 35% cases arrived to the health care facility within an hour of snakebite. Most of the patients (82%) recovered with the treatment with very minimal fatality/mortality. Although half of the patients presented with severe forms, only 35% of the patients arrived within an hour to the health care facility. This indicates the need for an information dissemination system to avoid severe disease as well as to prevent mortality.