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What the snake leaves in its wake: Functional limitations and disabilities among snakebite victims in Ghanaian communities

BACKGROUND: The estimated five million snakebites per year are an important health problem that mainly affect rural poor populations. The global goal is to halve both mortality and morbidity from this neglected tropical disease by 2030. Data on snakebite morbidity are sparse and mainly obtained from...

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Autores principales: Aglanu, Leslie Mawuli, Amuasi, John Humphrey, Schut, Bob A., Steinhorst, Jonathan, Beyuo, Alexis, Dari, Chrisantus Danaah, Agbogbatey, Melvin Katey, Blankson, Emmanuel Steve, Punguyire, Damien, Lalloo, David G., Blessmann, Jörg, Abass, Kabiru Mohammed, Harrison, Robert A., Stienstra, Ymkje
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9166350/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35604939
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010322
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author Aglanu, Leslie Mawuli
Amuasi, John Humphrey
Schut, Bob A.
Steinhorst, Jonathan
Beyuo, Alexis
Dari, Chrisantus Danaah
Agbogbatey, Melvin Katey
Blankson, Emmanuel Steve
Punguyire, Damien
Lalloo, David G.
Blessmann, Jörg
Abass, Kabiru Mohammed
Harrison, Robert A.
Stienstra, Ymkje
author_facet Aglanu, Leslie Mawuli
Amuasi, John Humphrey
Schut, Bob A.
Steinhorst, Jonathan
Beyuo, Alexis
Dari, Chrisantus Danaah
Agbogbatey, Melvin Katey
Blankson, Emmanuel Steve
Punguyire, Damien
Lalloo, David G.
Blessmann, Jörg
Abass, Kabiru Mohammed
Harrison, Robert A.
Stienstra, Ymkje
author_sort Aglanu, Leslie Mawuli
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The estimated five million snakebites per year are an important health problem that mainly affect rural poor populations. The global goal is to halve both mortality and morbidity from this neglected tropical disease by 2030. Data on snakebite morbidity are sparse and mainly obtained from hospital records. METHODS: This community-based study was conducted among 379 rural residents with or without a history of snakebite in the Ashanti and Upper West regions of Ghana. All participants in the snakebite group were bitten at least six months before the day of survey. The World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) and the Buruli Ulcer Functional Limitation Score were used to obtain patient-reported measure of functioning and disability. Long-term consequences were evaluated based on the severity of the symptoms at the time of the snakebite. FINDINGS: The median (IQR) time since the snakebite was 8.0 (3.5–16.5) years. The relative risk of disability was 1.54 (95% CI, 1.17–2.03) in the snakebite group compared to the community controls. Among patients with clinical symptoms suggesting envenoming at the time of bite, 35% had mild/moderate disabilities compared to 20% in the control group. The disability domains mainly affected by snakebite envenoming were cognition level, mobility, life activities and participation in society. A combination of the severity of symptoms at the time of the bite, age, gender and region of residence most accurately predicted the odds of having functional limitations and disabilities. CONCLUSION: The burden of snakebite in the community includes long-term disabilities of mild to moderate severity, which need to be considered when designing appropriate public health interventions. Estimating the total burden of snakebite is complicated by geographic differences in types of snakes and their clinical manifestations.
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spelling pubmed-91663502022-06-05 What the snake leaves in its wake: Functional limitations and disabilities among snakebite victims in Ghanaian communities Aglanu, Leslie Mawuli Amuasi, John Humphrey Schut, Bob A. Steinhorst, Jonathan Beyuo, Alexis Dari, Chrisantus Danaah Agbogbatey, Melvin Katey Blankson, Emmanuel Steve Punguyire, Damien Lalloo, David G. Blessmann, Jörg Abass, Kabiru Mohammed Harrison, Robert A. Stienstra, Ymkje PLoS Negl Trop Dis Research Article BACKGROUND: The estimated five million snakebites per year are an important health problem that mainly affect rural poor populations. The global goal is to halve both mortality and morbidity from this neglected tropical disease by 2030. Data on snakebite morbidity are sparse and mainly obtained from hospital records. METHODS: This community-based study was conducted among 379 rural residents with or without a history of snakebite in the Ashanti and Upper West regions of Ghana. All participants in the snakebite group were bitten at least six months before the day of survey. The World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) and the Buruli Ulcer Functional Limitation Score were used to obtain patient-reported measure of functioning and disability. Long-term consequences were evaluated based on the severity of the symptoms at the time of the snakebite. FINDINGS: The median (IQR) time since the snakebite was 8.0 (3.5–16.5) years. The relative risk of disability was 1.54 (95% CI, 1.17–2.03) in the snakebite group compared to the community controls. Among patients with clinical symptoms suggesting envenoming at the time of bite, 35% had mild/moderate disabilities compared to 20% in the control group. The disability domains mainly affected by snakebite envenoming were cognition level, mobility, life activities and participation in society. A combination of the severity of symptoms at the time of the bite, age, gender and region of residence most accurately predicted the odds of having functional limitations and disabilities. CONCLUSION: The burden of snakebite in the community includes long-term disabilities of mild to moderate severity, which need to be considered when designing appropriate public health interventions. Estimating the total burden of snakebite is complicated by geographic differences in types of snakes and their clinical manifestations. Public Library of Science 2022-05-23 /pmc/articles/PMC9166350/ /pubmed/35604939 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010322 Text en © 2022 Aglanu et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Aglanu, Leslie Mawuli
Amuasi, John Humphrey
Schut, Bob A.
Steinhorst, Jonathan
Beyuo, Alexis
Dari, Chrisantus Danaah
Agbogbatey, Melvin Katey
Blankson, Emmanuel Steve
Punguyire, Damien
Lalloo, David G.
Blessmann, Jörg
Abass, Kabiru Mohammed
Harrison, Robert A.
Stienstra, Ymkje
What the snake leaves in its wake: Functional limitations and disabilities among snakebite victims in Ghanaian communities
title What the snake leaves in its wake: Functional limitations and disabilities among snakebite victims in Ghanaian communities
title_full What the snake leaves in its wake: Functional limitations and disabilities among snakebite victims in Ghanaian communities
title_fullStr What the snake leaves in its wake: Functional limitations and disabilities among snakebite victims in Ghanaian communities
title_full_unstemmed What the snake leaves in its wake: Functional limitations and disabilities among snakebite victims in Ghanaian communities
title_short What the snake leaves in its wake: Functional limitations and disabilities among snakebite victims in Ghanaian communities
title_sort what the snake leaves in its wake: functional limitations and disabilities among snakebite victims in ghanaian communities
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9166350/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35604939
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010322
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