IRRI hosts snake bite medical management training

To improve emergency response to snake bites and address concerns on anti-venin administration, IRRI hosted the Snake Bite Medical Management Training of the IRRI-UPLB Management Committee at the Harrar Hall Seminar Room on 20 June 2012.

Thirty-five participants attended the training event, most of them doctors and nurses from private and public hospitals and municipal health units of Los Baños and Bay, Laguna, and IRRI Clinic and SSS-Emergency Services staff.

Topics discussed included key characteristics of snakes, antivenin production, and snake bite first aid and medical management, including anti-venin administration.

Resource persons were Leticia Afuang (faculty, Animal Biology Division, UPLB), Fedelino Malbas, Jr. (head, Veterinary Research Department, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine or RITM), and Manolito Chua, MD (medical specialist, Medical Department, RITM).