Snakebite deaths have reportedly increased in Gombe and Plateau States as a result of the flood which has ravaged several of its communities.
According to The News Agency of Nigeria, many people have been to have died as they couldn’t access health centres for immediate treatment because of the flood.
It was also gathered that the wife of the village head of Magama in Langtang South Local Government of the Plateau State had died as a result of a snakebite.
“Yes, I can confirm that there is a huge rise in snakebite cases; one of the victims was the wife of the village head of Magama.
“It is a scary situation. Snakes and humans are all running away from the floods and would usually clash in the dry lands in the struggle for space,” Dr Nandul Durfa told NAN.
Durfa, Managing Director, Echitap Group, producers of Anti-Snake Venom regretted that many lives were being lost to the menace.
The former Chief Medical Director of the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital also decried the shortage of ASV in the treatment centres.
Also, Research Officer, Snakebite Research Hospital, Kaltungo in Gombe, Dr Abubakar Saidu Balla said, “The situation is worse in riverine areas around Borno, Adamawa, Kogi, Gombe and Bauchi.
“The floods force snakes to migrate or carry them along and deposit them in the forests, homes or over river banks.
“The situation is worsened by the fact that victims cannot go to medical centres to get attention because the roads and bridges have either been washed away or flooded.
“In the rural areas, motorcycles usually help but they cannot ride through the water now. Very often, victims reach treatment centres dead.”
Balla said it had become dangerous to go to the farms, especially in Gombe.
“It is time to harvest groundnuts and maize, but going to the farm is very dangerous now because snakebites are rampant.
“Farmers cannot leave their crops in the bush, so contact with the snakes is often inevitable,” he said.
Figures from hospitals revealed that 1,900 victims of snake bites have been admitted since January.
