Focus on snake ecology to fight snakebite

TY - JOUR

T1 - Focus on snake ecology to fight snakebite

AU - Murray, Kris A.

AU - Martin, Gerardo

AU - Iwamura, Takuya

N1 - Funding Information: Kris A Murray a [email protected] Gerardo Martin a Takuya Iwamura b a MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, St Mary's Campus, London W2 1PG, UK MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology Imperial College London St Mary's Campus London W2 1PG UK MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, St Mary's Campus, London W2 1PG, UK b Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel Department of Zoology Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel The surge of interest from WHO and global health funders has taken aim at reducing the burden of snakebite, estimated to cause 81 000–138 000 deaths and over 400 000 disabilities annually worldwide. 1 New funding is primarily aimed at revolutionising treatments. 2 However, snakebite epidemiology also needs a revolution to match. Most snakebite research and management is already focused on venom—its properties, effects, and antivenoms. The remainder mostly focuses on the analysis of incidence and individual risk factors (eg, male sex, farm workers, poverty). 3 Far less addressed is understanding snake ecology. This imbalance is akin to trying to combat malaria while overlooking mosquitoes. Snakebite shares many epidemiological similarities with zoonoses: pathogens transmitted from animals to humans. Understanding host and vector ecology in addition to pathogens has been central to control of zoonoses, but the same cannot be said for snakebite. As a result, epidemiological understanding of snakebite remains limited, which in turn hinders the efforts to accurately map, forecast, and mitigate snakebite risk. High quality, quantitative information on the distribution, abundance, behaviour, and habitat preferences of venomous snakes is particularly scarce in the most affected regions. Better knowledge of snake ecology will improve efforts to direct scarce resources more efficiently, enhance prevention strategies, and maximise the impacts of both existing and new snakebite treatment technologies. We declare no competing interests. We received funding from the UK Medical Research Council (project reference MR/P024513/1).

PY - 2020/1/25

Y1 - 2020/1/25

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85078365881&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32510-3

DO - 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32510-3

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AN - SCOPUS:85078365881

SN - 0140-6736

VL - 395

SP - e14

JO - The Lancet

JF - The Lancet

IS - 10220

ER -