India Press: More males bitten by snakes than women
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Posted by Wes von Papineäu on December 24, 2000 at 17:05:41:
THE EXPRESS (Bombay, India) 31 October 00 More males bitten by snakes than women
Mumbai (UNI): The Male population is more prone to snake bites than the female population, reveals a study on snake bites conducted by Dr Dileep Punde, of Mukhed, in Nanded District of the State.
Dr Punde stated this in his technical paper on the ``Management of snake bite in rural set-up'' at the annual conference of the Association of Physicians of India, held last week. Giving further details of the snake bite, which presently haunts the rural regions of the state, Dr Punde said that the study conducted by him between September, 1997 and September, 1999 showed that the incidence of snake bite was 64.22 percent in males while it was only 35.78 in females. He expressed regret that there aren't necessary medicines available at the hospitals since they are so costly.
In addition to that there is delay in the patients being admitted to the hospital. This is mainly due to blind faith, presence of the witch doctor, quacks, village curers and lack of confidence in the government hospitals.
This situation needs to be changed drastically if the lives have to be saved at all, said Dr Punde. In his study he revealed that the poisonous bites were usually non-poisonous bites and the common age group who got bitten were 16 to 35 years old. 66.59 per cent of the people in this age group are subject to snake bites.
Rural was 88.99 per cent while in the urban areas it was 11.09 per cent , he said. Dr Punde further said that the mortality rate on account of the snake bite was as low as two percent. Deaths were caused mainly due respiratory failure, improper primary aid and delayed admission. Dr Punde stressed the need for educating the villagers about the necessary care to avoid snake bites.
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