With almost 60000 Indians killed by snakebites every year, a first-of-its-kind app offers to educate the masses, especially youngsters about this medical emergency.
The Snakebite Assistant, as the app is known, has already seen 10,000-plus smartphone downloads.
Priyanka Kadam, the president and founder of Snakebite Healing & Education Society (SHE-India) is spearheading the project in India. Inputs from experts from various fields were taken into building the app.
The Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) has helped Kadam in her mission.
The app is the brainchild of Dr Mauro Bodio and Prof Thomas Junghanss who have developed a database guide that covers venomous and poisonous animals (VAPA) globally.
The Snakebite Assistant app is part of a larger project of developing regional apps with the VAPA database.
“Firstly, snakebites are a medical emergency, and, secondly, it is not just a rural problem but an urban issue as well. Besides, above all, one must not panic and compound the crisis,” Kadam told DH on Tuesday.
“India reports more than 60,000 snakebite deaths which is a direct impact on the voiceless working class citizens of the country,” she said, adding that there are a large number of patients who get successfully treated. “But not everyone knows about the dos and don’ts in case of snakebite or rather how to identify whether it is a snakebite or not,” she said.
“We have received positive responses and the app has managed to save lives,” she said.
The app was launched on International Snakebite Awareness Day on September 19, 2022.
The Snakebite Assistant helps victims and first responders, paramedics, and people in secondary healthcare. “The basic aim is to educate the younger generation, young doctors besides others. It's an easy to use app,” said Kadam, adding that the app has region specific details of snakes.
Speaking about the app in detail, Kadam said: “For victims and first responders, the app instructs on stabilising and transporting, explains ‘dos and don’ts’ after a snakebite, provides the timeline when signs and symptoms of envenoming set in, and connects to find help. For paramedics and at PHCs and SHCs, it intuitively guides the user through the steps encountered in an envenoming. It follows the logic of emergency medicine with the specific features of envenoming and its treatment”.
India is home to more than 300 species of snakes some are venomous. “Among the species of venomous snakes, four of them, the Indian Cobra (Naja naja), Common Krait (Bungarus caeruleus), Russell’s Viper (Daboia russelii) and Saw-scaled Viper (Echis carinatus), stay in proximity of human settlements, and are responsible for majority of the deaths.
How the App is useful to commoners, Kadam said: “The most common scenario is that the snake bites the victim and quickly disappears in most cases. In most cases the snake has not been seen by the victim or bystanders or only vaguely. Therefore, you cannot rely on the information provided by victims and bystanders!”.
According to her, the paramedics should be able to identify whether the bite is neurotoxic or hemotoxic.