HUMAN ENVENOMATIONS DUE TO SNAKEBITES IN MARILIA, STATE OF SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL. A RETROSPECTIVE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY

Abstract

Eighty-four patients bitten by venomous snakes were studied retrospectively at the School of Medicine of Marilia from January 1990 to August 1994. The majority of these patients were rural workers, 65 (77.38%) males and 19 (22.62%) females, aged eight to seventy-five. Forty-three (51.19%) patients were diagnosed as having been bitten by snakes of the genus Bothrops and 41 (48.81%) by Crotalus. Fifty-eight patients (69.04%) were bitten in the legs and 26 (30.96%) in the arms. January, March, April and November were the months of higher incidence of bothropic envenomations, while crotalic envenomations were not recorded only in August and September. This study showed that the prevalence of crotalic envenomations in Marilia was higher than that of any other regions in Brazil. Further prospective epidemiological studies are needed for a better understanding of these findings.