Snakebite envenomings in the Republic of Korea from the 1970s to the 2020s: A review

Yucheol Shin; Yikweon Jang; Amaël Borzée

doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2021.03.013

Snakebite envenomings in the Republic of Korea from the 1970s to the 2020s: A review

Yucheol Shin, Yikweon Jang, Amaël Borzée

Divison of EcoScience

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Snakebite envenomings remain a neglected disease across the globe causing severe injuries and death. An understanding of regional snakebite patterns is a necessary prerequisite for public health programs aimed at reducing snakebite risks. However, such regional knowledge is poorly documented or lacking in many countries where the risk of snakebite envenomings receive little medical attention, and the Republic of Korea is one of these countries. Here, we reviewed the literature on snakebites published between 1970 and 2020 as well as public healthcare data recorded between 2010 and 2019 to determine the patterns of snakebite envenomings in the Republic of Korea. Our results, based on literature data, show Gangwon province as a hotspot of snakebite occurrences and identify middle-aged males living in rural areas as the demographic group at highest risk of venomous snakebites. We also highlight major limitations for further understanding snakebite patterns in the country, most notably the lack of proper species identification for snakes and conflicting patterns of envenomings revealed by different sources of data. Our study provides baseline information on venomous snakebites occurring in the Republic of Korea, thereby filling a gap in the knowledge of snakebite trends in the country.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	8-18
Number of pages	11
Journal	Toxicon
Volume	196
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxicon.2021.03.013
State	Published - Jun 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. We also thank Mr. Hyun-Tae Kim (Seosan High School) for providing pictures of terrestrial venomous snakes of South Korea used in Fig. 1. and Mark O'Shea (University of Wolverhampton) and one anonymous reviewer for providing helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. The first author thanks Dami Jeong (Ewha Womans University) for long hours of discussions and encouragements while writing this manuscript. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

Envenoming
Gloydius
Hydrophis
Laticauda
Republic of Korea
Rhabdophis
Snakebite

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.toxicon.2021.03.013

Cite this

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title = "Snakebite envenomings in the Republic of Korea from the 1970s to the 2020s: A review",

abstract = "Snakebite envenomings remain a neglected disease across the globe causing severe injuries and death. An understanding of regional snakebite patterns is a necessary prerequisite for public health programs aimed at reducing snakebite risks. However, such regional knowledge is poorly documented or lacking in many countries where the risk of snakebite envenomings receive little medical attention, and the Republic of Korea is one of these countries. Here, we reviewed the literature on snakebites published between 1970 and 2020 as well as public healthcare data recorded between 2010 and 2019 to determine the patterns of snakebite envenomings in the Republic of Korea. Our results, based on literature data, show Gangwon province as a hotspot of snakebite occurrences and identify middle-aged males living in rural areas as the demographic group at highest risk of venomous snakebites. We also highlight major limitations for further understanding snakebite patterns in the country, most notably the lack of proper species identification for snakes and conflicting patterns of envenomings revealed by different sources of data. Our study provides baseline information on venomous snakebites occurring in the Republic of Korea, thereby filling a gap in the knowledge of snakebite trends in the country.",

keywords = "Envenoming, Gloydius, Hydrophis, Laticauda, Republic of Korea, Rhabdophis, Snakebite",

author = "Yucheol Shin and Yikweon Jang and Ama{\"e}l Borz{\'e}e",

note = "Funding Information: We thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. We also thank Mr. Hyun-Tae Kim (Seosan High School) for providing pictures of terrestrial venomous snakes of South Korea used in Fig. 1. and Mark O'Shea (University of Wolverhampton) and one anonymous reviewer for providing helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. The first author thanks Dami Jeong (Ewha Womans University) for long hours of discussions and encouragements while writing this manuscript. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Elsevier Ltd",

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T2 - A review

AU - Shin, Yucheol

AU - Jang, Yikweon

AU - Borzée, Amaël

N1 - Funding Information: We thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. We also thank Mr. Hyun-Tae Kim (Seosan High School) for providing pictures of terrestrial venomous snakes of South Korea used in Fig. 1. and Mark O'Shea (University of Wolverhampton) and one anonymous reviewer for providing helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. The first author thanks Dami Jeong (Ewha Womans University) for long hours of discussions and encouragements while writing this manuscript. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2021/6

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N2 - Snakebite envenomings remain a neglected disease across the globe causing severe injuries and death. An understanding of regional snakebite patterns is a necessary prerequisite for public health programs aimed at reducing snakebite risks. However, such regional knowledge is poorly documented or lacking in many countries where the risk of snakebite envenomings receive little medical attention, and the Republic of Korea is one of these countries. Here, we reviewed the literature on snakebites published between 1970 and 2020 as well as public healthcare data recorded between 2010 and 2019 to determine the patterns of snakebite envenomings in the Republic of Korea. Our results, based on literature data, show Gangwon province as a hotspot of snakebite occurrences and identify middle-aged males living in rural areas as the demographic group at highest risk of venomous snakebites. We also highlight major limitations for further understanding snakebite patterns in the country, most notably the lack of proper species identification for snakes and conflicting patterns of envenomings revealed by different sources of data. Our study provides baseline information on venomous snakebites occurring in the Republic of Korea, thereby filling a gap in the knowledge of snakebite trends in the country.

AB - Snakebite envenomings remain a neglected disease across the globe causing severe injuries and death. An understanding of regional snakebite patterns is a necessary prerequisite for public health programs aimed at reducing snakebite risks. However, such regional knowledge is poorly documented or lacking in many countries where the risk of snakebite envenomings receive little medical attention, and the Republic of Korea is one of these countries. Here, we reviewed the literature on snakebites published between 1970 and 2020 as well as public healthcare data recorded between 2010 and 2019 to determine the patterns of snakebite envenomings in the Republic of Korea. Our results, based on literature data, show Gangwon province as a hotspot of snakebite occurrences and identify middle-aged males living in rural areas as the demographic group at highest risk of venomous snakebites. We also highlight major limitations for further understanding snakebite patterns in the country, most notably the lack of proper species identification for snakes and conflicting patterns of envenomings revealed by different sources of data. Our study provides baseline information on venomous snakebites occurring in the Republic of Korea, thereby filling a gap in the knowledge of snakebite trends in the country.

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Snakebite envenomings in the Republic of Korea from the 1970s to the 2020s: A review

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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