Venomous animal accidents and phytotherapeutic measures adopted by the rural population in Alagoas backlands (Brazil)

Resumo

Objectives: evaluate the epidemiological aspects of accidents with venomous animals, focusing on snakebites and phytotherapic measures adopted by the rural population in municipalities in the interior of Alagoas. Materials and methods: this is a quantitative, descriptive research, carried out between 2016 and 2017 in the Alagoas backlands. To select the participants, the “snowball” method was used. For data collection, a semi-structured questionnaire was used. The data were analyzed using Excel 2007 software, and the relationship between the variables was evaluated by Spearman's correlation. Results: of the 600 accidents with venomous animals reported, the most prevalent were caused by snakes (47.00%) and scorpions (31.44%), while 21.56% by other animals. A weak correlation (r = 0.33) was observed between the municipality and the occupation of the job. Of the 282 registered snakebites, the Viperidae family was predominant with 74.46% of the cases. Most accidents were with Bothrops/ Bothrocophias (36.52%) and Crotalus (28.37%) genus. The medicinal plants used were barbatimão (52.00%), paratudo (21.00%), bellyache bush (15.00%) and sweet potato (12.00%), applied as leaf maceration (60.00 %), tea compress (29.50%) and use of garrafada (10.50%). Conclusion: in the region of Alagoas, medicinal plants are used as a phytotherapic alternative to minimize the symptoms and effects of snake venom.