O Acidente Botrópico no Tocantins: perfil epidemiológico dos acidentados, fatores ambientais facilitadores dos acidentes, toxicidade e neutralização do veneno

Abstract

Poisoning caused by snakes of the Bothrops genus represents about 90% of snake accidents in Brazil and the Bothrops moojeni snake is the main species causing accidents in Tocantins. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the epidemiological profile of those injured by snakes of the botropic genus, the environmental factors that facilitate the accident, the experimental toxicity of Bothrops moojeni for the state of Tocantins and the neutralization of this poison by the commercial botropic antivenom. The epidemiological profile of patients in botropic accidents sought to support the understanding of the dynamics of this disease, with data from 2007 to 2019, obtained from the TabWin-SINAN platform. The correlation of snakebite accidents with some of the environmental factors was evaluated, such as rainfall, air temperature, relative humidity and agricultural progress, in the cities of Araguaína, Palmas and Porto Nacional, based on data available at IBGE and INMET. To evaluate the toxicity of Bothrops moojeni venom and its neutralization with antivenom, defibrinogenating, edematogenic, hemorrhagic, fibrinolytic, myotoxic and coagulant activities were tested. 7,906 cases of botropic accidents were observed during the analyzed period, with a classic epidemiological aspect: male was the most injured (76.7%), the predominant age was 20-59 years (62.0%), with accidents classified as mild to moderate (89.6%) and 0.4% of deaths. Araguaína was the city with the highest number of accidents (6.5%), followed by Palmas (4.2%) and Porto Nacional (3.4%). The seasonal environmental variables of air temperature, relative humidity and rainfall were determinant in the incidence of these accidents, in the three cities analyzed. For agricultural progress, there was a correlation for Araguaína (production of beans, cassava and corn) and Palmas (production of beans). Bothrops moojeni venom showed all the biological characteristics tested and botropic antivenom was able to neutralize them. Therefore, the occurrence of botropic accidents in the state of Tocantins has an influence on environmental conditions and affects the most active age group of the population. Bothrops moojeni venom showed standard characteristics found in other jararacas venoms, and the antivenom was validated for this species, which occurs in Tocantins territory.