Soro: As many as 16 cases of snakebite were reported in Soro Community Healthcare Centre (CHC) Wednesday, a source said.
The patients including men, women and one child are from different villages under Soro block.
According to the source, while two persons are seriously ill, four others have been discharged from the hospital after recovery. Other 10 patients are undergoing treatment.
However, the exact reason for the large number of snakebites is still unknown. Some experts suggested that this could have been a result of extreme temperature and egg-lying season.
A forest official said that snakes generally do not attack unprovoked at any other time of the year. However, during the egg-laying season, they have a tendency to attack people in order to protect their eggs.
The official also informed that another factor could be high temperature, which causes snakes to migrate towards human habitations in search of a cooler and more hospitable environment. They often encounter humans on their travel, and that leads to snakebites.
Notably, snakes are cold-blooded which means they do not have any mechanism to regulate their own body temperature. Their body temperature changes according to the temperature of their surroundings. Hence, they move into cooler places or shades to maintain optimal body heat during summer.
PNN