Naik Hiral, Alexander Graham J
School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.
Save the Snakes, R527, Blyderus, Hoedspruit 1380, South Africa.
Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2025 Jul 1;119(7):788-795. doi: 10.1093/trstmh/trae109.
Snakebite is a public health challenge that has a substantial impact on humans and snakes. Annually, millions of people are affected by snakebite globally but there is a paucity of detailed data on snakebite incidences. The aim of this study was to assess the patterns of snakebite incidences in South Africa.
We collected data from hospital records, information from the National Snakebite Database and records from the AfriTox Telelog database from 2011 to 2024.
The combined dataset showed that 3496 snakebite incidences have been recorded over 12.5 years. The prevalence was calculated to be 5.63 per 100 000 individuals of the population for South Africa, with the highest prevalence in KwaZulu-Natal (8.89). Males made up 65.9% of snakebite incidences and most incidences were recorded between November and March. The snake species responsible for most snakebite incidences was Bitis arietans.
Snakebite is generally well managed in South Africa with few recorded deaths despite the relatively high number of bites. However, incidents are often not recorded or have missing information particularly regarding the circumstances of the bite. Our study provides insight on the snake species responsible for snakebite incidences in South Africa and can be used to create prevention measures.
蛇咬伤是一项对人类和蛇类都有重大影响的公共卫生挑战。全球每年有数百万人受到蛇咬伤影响，但蛇咬伤发病率的详细数据却很匮乏。本研究的目的是评估南非蛇咬伤发病率的模式。
我们收集了2011年至2024年期间医院记录的数据、国家蛇咬伤数据库的信息以及非洲毒素电话日志数据库的记录。
综合数据集显示，在12.5年期间共记录了3496起蛇咬伤事件。经计算，南非每10万人中的患病率为5.63，夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省的患病率最高（8.89）。男性占蛇咬伤事件的65.9%，大多数事件记录在11月至3月之间。导致大多数蛇咬伤事件的蛇种是鼓腹咝蝰。
在南非，尽管蛇咬伤事件数量相对较多，但蛇咬伤总体管理良好，记录的死亡病例很少。然而，事件往往未被记录或信息缺失，尤其是关于咬伤情况的信息。我们的研究提供了对南非导致蛇咬伤事件的蛇种的见解，可用于制定预防措施。
