African Woman and Child Feature Service

Hundreds of Kenyans are dying or getting their limbs amputated after snakebites even as dozens of doses of anti-venom vaccines lie un-utilized in government hospitals, some within a kilometre from their homes.

Those who have been amputated after failing to get the vaccine are instead trooping to Kenya Wildlife Service to seek compensation.

Officers at the Division of Vaccines and Immunization are now concerned that majority of the Kenyans are not aware that the anti-venom vaccines do exist in public hospitals.

“What we have found out is majority of the people are resorting to use of traditional ways of managing snakebites when the vaccine might just be at their door steps,” says Dr Tatu Kamau, the Head of Division of Vaccines and Immunization.

So far, the government has procured 10,000 doses of the vaccine which has been distributed across the country. Another 8,000 doses are on the way.

Officials at Ministry of Health and Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) agree that past experiences of drug stock-outs in many government hospitals has made the pubic believe that this vaccine is not available in government facilities and whenever they are bitten by a snake they opt for traditional ways of treatment.

The government is now embarking on an aggressive campaign to educate the public on the distribution of poisonous snakes in Kenya, how to prevent being bitten and the need to rush to hospital immediately after a bite to get the anti-venom vaccine.

Dr Kamau says the vaccine they have in government hospital protects a person against 11 types of snakebites, including the most poisonous ones.

The Department’s concerns are being expressed on the backdrop of reported increase in snakebites from 20 in 2003 to a record 236 in 2008, majority of them occurring in the drier regions of the country.

According to Kenya Wildlife Association’s Grace Nzale, Conflict Resolution Warden, 680 cases of snakebites that resulted in 81 deaths and 577 injuries had been reported between 2003 and June 2009.

In that period, Mwingi leads with 172 reported snake bites, Wajir 88, Marsabit 54, Lamu 44, Kajiado 43, Embu 38, Mandera 36, Mbeere 26, Baringo 25, Kibwezi 24, Kitui 24, Mutomo 19, Makueni 18, Taita Taveta 18, Transmara 7, while Machakos and Tana River had reported 4 snakebites each.

But Nzale says this might just be the tip of the iceberg since majority for the cases do not get reported or follow-up for compensation from the government through KWS.

In 2008 alone, for instance, Mwingi district led with 56 cases of reported snakebites, followed by Wajir with 29, Marsabit. 41, Lamu 30, and Kajiado 19.

The most affected areas are either semi-arid or experience prolonged periods of dry weather, with very few coming from those that receive adequate rainfall, says Nzale.

Rashid Kaka, a Senior Curator in charge of the Snake Park at the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) says being cold blooded creatures –whose blood temperature increases or decreases with changes in the external environment- snakes are known to have a penchant for warmer and drier parts of the country where conditions for survival and breeding are favourable.

Those found in these conditions multiply faster than snakes in colder regions because it takes shorter time for their eggs to hatch. This explains the huge population and species diversity of snakes in the dry or low grassland areas.

And with the destruction of forests and rising temperatures due to climate change, many locations in Kenya are likely to turn into fertile breeding grounds and habitats for the snakes.

Snakes living in warmer regions are very active and venture out from their hideouts into houses and into people’s bedrooms, especially at night, in search of water and food.

It is during this time they bite people when asleep and who, not knowing it is a snake crawling past them, try to shove it off. This action makes the snake think it is under attack and reacts with a bite, in most cases on the limbs of the person.

Jacob Mueti Ngwava, Assistant Research Scientists at National Museums of Kenya say the chance of people in dry areas being bitten is higher than those in the cooler areas since the snakes are very active in the former than in the latter.

Among the Maasai, the leading cases of snakebites are among children who have been bitten on the limbs. Majority of these bites occur at night leaving researchers to hypothesize that the children might be the victims because they sleep on the floor while their parents on a bed or raised areas.

Families living in these drier areas are now being advised to keep water outside the houses so that the snakes can get their share and avoid venturing into the houses. The only dilemma is these are the very areas where water is so scarce and precious that there is none to place outside the house for the snakes.

Yet, according to their distribution, majority of the deadliest snakes are found in these dry parts of the country. Black-necked cobra is mainly found in Machakos, Kajiado, Kilifi, Meru, Naivasha, Nyanza and Isiolo. The Saw-scaled Viper that likes hiding in stones or logs is found in Samburu, Garissa, Maralal, Nyambene and Eastern Turkana.

Black or white cobra lives in the forests and woodlands; the Jameson’s Mamba is found only in Kakamega forest; Green Mamba, found in Diani, Kilifi, Malindi, Mombasa, Mtwapa, Simba hills, Himoni, Watamu, Tana River, Nyambene and Kibwezi. The Puff Adder is found in almost parts of the country, with Egyptian Cobra residing mostly in Kajiado, Machakos, Nairobi, Naivasha, Thika, Isiolo, Samburu, Bungoma and Elgon.

The Boomslang is found in Kitui and Machakos, while the Gaboon Viper lives in Kakamega and Nandi forests. The black mamba exists in the coastal districts, Kajiado, baringo, Bungoma, Kerio, Kitui, Makindu, Mara, Mwingi and Nandi hills.

The venom of some of these snakes kills between three and eight hours from the time of the bite. Dr Kamau and Kaka wants those living in the locations where these snakes exist to rush to the nearest hospital to get anti-venom vaccine immediately after a snakebite.

Victims who survive the bite of the Puff adder, a snake known to be responsible of many fatalities, end up with amputated limbs. Described as one of the snakes that is reluctant to flee from human beings and willing to bite, the puff adder usually produces lethal venom that decomposes the body tissues.

When these cases of death and amputations are reported to the KWS, the government compensates the victims or the families of the deceased.

Under the Wildlife Conversation and Management (Amendment) Act Cap 376, Sec. 65, deaths resulting from any animal attack qualifies for compensation of Sh 200,000, while those who survive with injuries get Sh 50,000.

But there are concerns some of those who die or end up with amputated limbs could be saved if they are rushed to hospitals to get anti-venom vaccine immediately following snakebite. Those who fail to get venom knock at KWS offices asking for government compensation.

While the Kamba’s are known to suck poison from the bitten area, snake experts say some of these interventions just based on myths. And by the time they get to the hospital, the affected limb is so badly off that the only solution is amputation.

An AWC-Feature