Exaggerated threat from Russell's viper

FE Team | Published: June 24, 2024 20:37:54

Mass panic over Russell's viper has almost turned into a mass hysteria, courtesy of social media. It is not for the first time that misinformation spreads like wildfire because the social media craze cashes in on exaggerated virtual picture of reality. True, Russell's vipers (Chandrabora) have been sighted in some of the islets of the river Padma in Rajshahi and other downstream districts of the river. But their proliferation in Bhola where five of this subspecies of snake have been beaten to death is somewhat surprising. Herpetologists thought for long that the snake had become extinct in the country but they reappeared 10-12 years ago when people fell victim to its bites. Misleading posts on social sites by publicity-obsessed individuals has stoked responses to physical danger to such a level that a politician in Faridpur has made a public announcement of a reward of Tk 50,000 for killing each such snake unaware that putting it to death is a punishable offence.
It is quite likely that the unwarranted publicity causing mass panic has prompted Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Samantalal Sen to hold a virtual meeting with all concerned with public health at the divisional and district levels in order to debunk the smokescreen created by the social media over the 'prowling' Russell's viper. The Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change has even issued a public notice and some guidelines aimed at raising people's awareness of what they need to do in order to avoid snake bite and in case of a bite what is a must do. Such a campaign, provided that it is carried out with all seriousness at the grass-roots level, will surely make a difference in the incidence of snake bites and also the number of deaths from those. The important thing is to get the message across in clear and legible terms so that farmers who are encountering the snake in crop fields know precisely what they ought to do.
Now to sort out fact from fiction, the best guide is the data compiled by DGHS. According to it, in 2023, there were as many as 0.45 million cases of snake bites of which 7,500 people died. But the majority of those deaths were from cobra and krait bites. Although the data did not provide the actual number of deaths from bites of Russell's Viper, it is likely to be far fewer than either of the other two. What is notable is that it is less poisonous than cobra and krait. Also it is a lazy snake and attacks out of fear and also leaves languidly so that there is a chance of seeing it. A victim of its bite gets a nine-time longer period up to 72 hours for treatment than one gets in case of a cobra bite --only 8.0 hours or less. However, the sooner a snake bitten patient is taken to hospital for administering anti-venom injection the better but to avoid complications it is advisable to seek medical treatment within 100 minutes.
So, there is no reason to be exaggeratedly panicky about Russel's viper. Caution can help avoid its attack and in case of becoming a victim to its bite, there is proper treatment. The health minister has instructed for maintaining adequate stock of anti-venom injections available free of cost. It is important that immediately after its bite, the patient must be taken to the nearest upazila health complex for treatment.