An advisory group of snakebite authorities has been set up to provide medical practitioners, health-care workers and emergency departments in southern Africa with a new resource to help them manage victims of snakebites.
The National Snakebite Advisory Group (NSAG) offers a free service to medical personnel, clinicians and centres in both the public and private sectors who may need to treat snakebite victims, according to trauma surgeon Dr Tim Hardcastle, a member of the group and a member of the Trauma Society of South Africa.
“The group has been established with the express aim of assisting in reducing morbidity and mortality from snakebites in southern Africa. We wanted to make sure that medical practitioners have access to, and can be appropriately assisted by, this superb resource of national and international experts,” said Hardcastle.
The NSAG launches today in commemoration of World Trauma Day.
The group, which consists of medical and trauma practitioners experienced in snakebite treatment, as well as anti-venom and snake-handling experts, has representatives throughout South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique.
“The members of the group are in constant contact, which enables us to exchange knowledge and expertise on an ongoing basis. They also have considerable knowledge about the snakes within their regions, which is important as different kinds of snakes are more common in some areas than others,” said Hardcastle.
“Snakebites are one of the most difficult and specialised areas of medicine. As some of our medical centres in South Africa see relatively few snakebite cases, there is sometimes uncertainty about the best course of action and treatment when a patient does present after having been bitten. This may include, for example, whether anti-venom is appropriate to administer and, if so, in what quantity.”
Hardcastle points out that while the NSAG service is only directly available to healthcare practitioners and facilities, there are a number of resources available to the public.
These include the Poison Information Centre and the African Snakebite Institute, which offers a special information app from their website, www.africansnakebiteinstitute.com/snakebite/