Abstract/Summary

Snakebite envenomation (SBE) is a life-threatening medical emergency with a high mortality rate. Common secondary complications following SBE such as wound infections are significant due to their impact on worsening local tissue damage and causing systemic infection. Antivenoms are not effective to treat wound infections following SBE. Moreover, in several rural clinical settings, broad-spectrum antibiotics are often used without clear guidelines or based on limited laborato-ry data resulting in undesirable side effects and exacerbated treatment costs. Therefore, robust antibiotic strategies should be developed to tackle this critical issue. Currently, there is limited information available on bacterial profiles of SBE-induced infections and antibiotic susceptibil-ity. Hence, it is essential to improve the knowledge of bacterial profiles and their antibiotic sensi-tivity in SBE victims to develop better treatment strategies. This study aimed to address this issue by examining bacterial profiles of SBE victims with a specific focus on Russell’s viper enven-omation. The most frequently found bacteria at the bites of SBE victims were Staphylococcus au-reus, Klebsiella sp., Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Linezolid, clindamycin, colistin, meropenem and amikacin were some of the most effective antibiotics for commonly grown bacte-ria in SBE victims. Similarly, ciprofloxacin, ampicillin, amoxiclav, cefixime and tetracyclin were the least effective antibiotics for common bacteria found in wound swabs of SBE victims. These data provide robust guidance for infection management following SBE and offer useful insights to aid in designing effective treatment protocols for SBE with serious wound infections in rural areas where laboratory facilities may not be readily available.