Introduction:

In Peru, ophidian accidents are an important public health problem due to a wide territorial distribution of different types of snakes.

Objective:

To describe the clinical-epidemiological characteristics and the management of ophidian accidents registered in a hospital in Peru.

Methods:

Case series study carried out between January 2011 to December 2015 at the Santa Rosa Hospital in Puerto Maldonado, 256 medical records of patients with a definitive diagnosis of ophidism were reviewed. Sociodemographic and clinical variables and the evolution of the patients were analyzed.

Results:

A total of 78.5% of patients were men, the age group most affected were adults. Most of the accidents occurred in March (12.5%). 39% of the patients were engaged in agricultural work. Between 4:00 p.m. and 7:59 p.m., 35.2% of the accidents occurred. 71.1% reported the Bothrops atrox snake as the cause of the accident. 71.5% of the bites occurred on the lower limbs. Most patients received specific treatment with polyvalent anti-botropic (90.6%).

Conclusions:

In the studied population, the most affected sex is the male with an age between 27 and 59 years. The most frequent snake causing the accidents was the Bothrops atrox, better known among the inhabitants as “jergón”. In most cases, antivenom was administered as a specific treatment.

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