PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
http://www.plosntds.org/
[Accessed 9 July 2016]

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Research Article
Mapping the Risk of Snakebite in Sri Lanka – A National Survey with Geospatial Analysis
Dileepa Senajith Ediriweera, Anuradhani Kasturiratne, Arunasalam Pathmeswaran, Nipul Kithsiri Gunawardena, Buddhika Asiri Wijayawickrama, Shaluka Francis Jayamanne, Geoffrey Kennedy Isbister, Andrew Dawson, Emanuele Giorgi, Peter John Diggle, David Griffith Lalloo, Hithanadura Janaka de Silva
| published 08 Jul 2016 | PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004813
Author Summary
Snakebite is a neglected tropical disease which mainly affects the rural poor in tropical countries. There is little reliable data on snakebite, which makes it difficult to estimate the true disease burden. Hospital statistics underestimate numbers of snakebites because a significant proportion of victims in tropical countries seek traditional treatments. On the other hand, time limited or localized surveys may be inaccurate as they may underestimate or overestimate numbers depending on when and where they are performed. To get a truer picture of the situation in Sri Lanka, where snakebites are an important cause of hospital admission, we undertook an island-wide community survey to determine the number of bites, envenomings and deaths due to snakebite in the previous 12 months. We found that there were more than 80,000 bites, 30,000 envenomings and 400 deaths due to snakebite, much more than claimed by official statistics. There was variation in numbers of bites and envenomings in different parts of the country and, using the data from our survey, we were able develop snakebite risk maps to identify snakebite hotspots and cold spots in the country. These maps would be useful for healthcare decision makers to allocate resources to manage snakebite in the country. We used free and open source software and replicable methods, which we believe can be adopted to other regions where snakebite is a public health problem.