Table 3.
Characteristics of the snakebite and health-seeking behavior
| Personally bitten (N = 50) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | N | % | N | % | |
| Age when bitten (years) | Care sought | ||||
| 0–17 | 7 | 14 | Traditional treatment | 15 | 30 |
| 18–25 | 9 | 18 | Healthcare at facility | 29 | 58 |
| 26–35 | 13 | 27 | Traditional treatment and healthcare | 6 | 12 |
| 36–45 | 12 | 25 | Traditional treatment received | ||
| ≥ 46 | 8 | 16 | Black stone | 12 | 57 |
| Activity at time of bite | Healing plants | 12 | 57 | ||
| Walking | 19 | 38 | Suck out venom | 9 | 43 |
| Farming | 12 | 24 | Cut bite | 5 | 24 |
| Collecting firewood | 5 | 10 | Tourniquet | 2 | 10 |
| Herding | 4 | 8 | Wash bite | 2 | 10 |
| Sleeping | 3 | 6 | Burn bite | 1 | 5 |
| Charcoal burning | 2 | 4 | Outcome traditional treatment | ||
| Activity inside house | 2 | 4 | Fully healed | 15 | 71 |
| Playing | 1 | 2 | Not fully healed, went to facility | 6 | 29 |
| Don’t know | 2 | 4 | Reason for visiting traditional healer | ||
| Part of the day when bitten | Close by, facility too far away | 18 | 90 | ||
| During daylight | 30 | 60 | Cheap, facility too expensive | 7 | 35 |
| In the dark | 20 | 40 | Only one who can treat snakebite | 3 | 15 |
| Season when bitten* | No treatment available at facility | 3 | 15 | ||
| Dry season | 18 | 36 | Provides first aid | 1 | 5 |
| Rainy season | 15 | 30 | Sector facility visited | ||
| Don’t know | 17 | 34 | Public | 28 | 85 |
| Body part bitten | Private | 2 | 6 | ||
| Foot | 24 | 48 | Private not-for-profit | 3 | 9 |
| Leg | 18 | 36 | Treatment received at facility | ||
| Arm | 6 | 12 | Antivenom | 14 | 42 |
| Hand | 2 | 4 | Antibiotics | 12 | 36 |
| Snake identified | Painkillers | 9 | 27 | ||
| No | 17 | 34 | Anti-tetanus injection | 8 | 24 |
| Yes | 17 | 34 | Referred to another facility | 6 | 18 |
| Don’t know | 16 | 32 | Fluids | 3 | 9 |
| Type of snake† | Adrenaline | 2 | 6 | ||
| Black mamba | 10 | 59 | Antihistamine | 1 | 3 |
| Red spitting cobra | 5 | 29 | Surgery | 1 | 3 |
| Egyptian cobra | 1 | 6 | Don’t know | 4 | 12 |
| Vine snake | 1 | 6 | |||
| What happened to snake | |||||
| It slithered away | 36 | 72 | |||
| It was killed | 10 | 20 | |||
| It stayed in the same place | 3 | 6 | |||
| It was not seen | 1 | 2 | |||
*
Dry season: January, February, March, July, August, September; Rainy season: April, May, June, October, November, December.
†
Type of snake as identified by the victim. Correct identification of the type of snake is therefore not certain.