DAILY TRUST (Ajuba, Nigeria) 30 August 06 Editorial: The Snakes of Kaltungo

For more than a decade now, officials of the Gombe State government and of Kaltungo Local Govern- ment, supported by traditional rulers and medical authorities in the area, have been shouting themselves hoarse about the problem of snake bites in the rocky and wooded Kaltungo area.

On top of all other problems that it shares with other Nigerian communities, this area is infested with poisonous snakes, which bite and kill or deform many people every year. It is a terrible problem, one which also discourages people from farming and other economic activities in the surrounding woodlands for fear of encountering snakes. In fact, experts from the Oxford University and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, both in the UK, recently declared Kaltungo, in Gombe State, as well as Zamko town, in Plateau State, as some of the world's most snake-endowed towns. This is a dubious honour indeed, but it is also one that does not necessarily have to cause alarm and distress. If snakes c ongregate in these two towns more than they normally do, it must have something to do with ecology and topography, especially the abundance of snake prey, such as rats, in their vicinity.

The snake experts were reported to have called for the establishment of a state-of-the-art anti-snake venom factory and hospital in the country at an estimated cost of $50 million. This, they said, will cut the cost of anti-snake venom from the current 50,000 naira needed by a snake-bite victim to a more affordable 3,000 naira. This is a very good suggestion, but it is not the only or even the first component of a comprehensive programme to tackle snakebites in Nigeria. The first task is general community education about snakes. At present, snakes are the subject of many myths, whereas in fact they are relatively simple biological beings that strike either for food or defensive reasons. If people know more about snake habits and motives, it will go a long way to ensure that contact with sna kes does not often result in fatal bites.

Next, Nigerian scientists must compile every available scientific information about snakes. For example, we must know all the snake species that are in Nigeria and each one's exact range and habits. We must also know which ones are venomous, what type of poisons they have, and what kind of wounds they inflict when they bite people and other animals.

These help health workers to immediately identify the suspected culprit snake when a snakebite patient comes in and to determine the right anti-venom to be administered. There is no reason why biologists, biochemists and medical doctors at the Gombe State University and the University of Jos cannot accomplish this task. Next is the matter of producing the anti-snake venom. In India, for example, hi-tech pharmaceutical industries cooperate with local snake charmers who catch snakes and take them to the laboratories. The snakes' venoms are then collected and analysed, after which the anti-v enoms are produced. These must however then be made readily available at all health centres as close as possible to human settlements.

The reason is that some snake venoms are so dangerous that a victim may not survive for long if he does not receive medical help quickly. A system must also be put in place in all communities, especially those that are highly prone to snakebites, to move victims to the hospitals as fast as possible. Then also, medical workers, especially in these endemic areas but in all other places as well need to receive special training to recognise wounds inflicted by snakebites and to be able to determine and administer the right anti-venom quickly.

The elite must not play the usual politics and bureaucratic bungling with this matter under the false notion that it is only the poor farmers in rural, woody and rocky Kaltungo that could be bitten by snakes. Snakes could creep under the carpets of the richest home at Maitama or Victoria Island. They are non -partisan, non-discriminatory assassins, and if a powerful political figure happens by accident to step on one, he would then wish that he had paid more prompt attention to the anti-snake venom programme file.
The Snakes of Kaltungo

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