Snakebite injuries and treatment statistics in British Armed Forces
Dear Ministry of Defence,
Snakebite envenomation (SBE) is considered a neglected tropical disease affecting mostly the impoverished in many tropical and subtropical countries. Around 5.4 million people are affected each year, resulting in 1.8-2.7 million cases of envenoming, 140,000 deaths and triple the amount of amputations and permanent disabilities. Most of these affect poor rural communities in low and middle-income countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Many studies have been done by researchers in other countries on the impact of snakebite on their armed forces and training. There is currently no information available on the scale of this amongst the British Armed forces that are currently deployed in areas of snake bite endemic regions such as Nigeria, South Sudan, Iraq, Brunei, Sierra Leone, Iraq. etc. etc.
We seek to better understand the impact of snakebite on British military personnel as well as the treatment regimens employed to treat personnel to asses the extent of the impact . Our aims for the are to review current statistics, treatment protocols and how we can improve them to save lives as well we to design better educational tools to aid healthcare professionals working within the armed forces as well as soldiers alike.
Any information you are able to provide will greatly assist our work.
Yours faithfully,
Anika Salim
Department of Pharmacy
University of Reading
Dear Anika,
Please see the attached.
Regards
Secretariat
Headquarters Defence Medical Services
Defence Medical Services Whittington
Lichfield
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