Four people have died and 10 others are suffering from snakebites amidst a shortage of antivenom drugs since the beginning of this month in Nyirol County of South Sudan’s Jonglei State.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Sunday, James Bol Makuey, the Nyirol County commissioner, said: “Over the past four days, there were deaths from snakebites cases in Tut area, and two more fatalities in Weinyang area. in Total, since the beginning of this month, October, we reported about 10 snakebite cases.”
Bol blamed the rise in snakebites on the level of rising floodwaters in parts of the county.
Simon Bol, the Nyirol County heath director, decried the rise in snakebite cases, and called for an urgent intervention by the government and health agencies in the state, to avert a possible health crisis.
Meanwhile, Dr. Bol Chaw Manyang, the medical director of Bor State Hospital, the main referral facility in the state, cautioned residents in Nyrol and other flood-hit areas to observe precautionary measures amid the surge due to the floods.
“Snakebite cases are being reported in parts of the state but because floods are receding, the cases are probably reducing. This is the time for harvesting so many people are exposed on the farm and while fishing. So, our advice is that they should avoid the bushy areas and seek treatment at the Bor hospital,” Bol said.