A Special Report:

Information Transmission through the Internet for the Preparedness against Venomous Snake as the Aftermath of Cambodian Flood in 1997

Ochi G, MD*, Shirakawa Y, MD, PhD*, Asahi S, MD, PhD**, Toriba M, MD, PhD***, Akira Sekikawa, MD, PhD**** and Ronald E. LaPorte, PhD****

* Department of Emergency Medicine, Ehime University School of Medicine,
** Western Pacific Regional Office, Emergency and Humanitarian Action, WHO
*** Japan Snake Institute, Japan
**** Dept. of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh

Japanese Journal of Disaster Medicine 4: 47-50 1999



  目 次
Abstract
Abstract in Japanese
Paper
Reference

Slides (4th APCD)


ABSTRACT

We report a case in which the Global Health Disaster Network (GHDNet), an internet-mediated network for disaster relief, played an important role in the preparedness against venomous snake as the aftermath of Cambodian flood. On Aug. 6, 1997, a request was sent for venomous snake antiserum from the Government of Cambodia to the Western Pacific Regional Office in Cambodia, Emergency and Humanitarian Action (EHA), WHO. There had been serious flood in Cambodia and quite a lot of snakebite cases were expected aftermath the flood. The Government requested EHA to send polyvalent type antiserum for 100 people. However, they could provide only few types of monovalent antiserum, and also they had very limited information about the species of the snakes in Cambodia and about the institutes which could provide proper antiserum. On Aug. 13, the EHA coordinator sent an e-mail to a GHDNet member to ask information about snakes in Cambodia. The member transmitted the mail to three mailing lists related to the GHDNet. Some mailing list members recommended to contact with several specialists and some institutes including Japan Snake Institute and the Serum Institute of India. Finally, in Aug. 18, antiserum for 100 persons was ordered to the Serum Institute of India, and was transported to Cambodia by air.

On this occasion, prompt information exchange was essential to minimize the number of casualties by snakebite and the Internet proved to be quite helpful to connect specialists each other on an international scale. It was also strongly recommended to organize disaster-related networks during the pre-disaster period.


論文要旨

インターネットを用いた、カンボジア洪水後の蛇毒血清入手のための情報支援

Ochi G, MD*, Shirakawa Y, MD, PhD*, Asahi S, MD, PhD**, Toriba M, MD, PhD***, Akira Sekikawa, MD, PhD**** and Ronald E. LaPorte, PhD****

* Department of Emergency Medicine, Ehime University School of Medicine,
** Western Pacific Regional Office, Emergency and Humanitarian Action, WHO
*** Japan Snake Institute, Japan
**** Dept. of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh

 インターネットを用いた災害情報ネットワークであるThe Global Health Disaster Network (GHDNet) による情報支援が、カンボジア洪水後の蛇毒血清入手の活動に寄与した。1997年8月6日、カンボジア政府からWHO西太平洋支部、緊急人道局(EHA)に100人分の蛇毒多価血清を入手したいという要請があった。同国では最近のメコン川の大洪水により、多数の蛇咬傷の発生が予想されていた。しかし、EHAでは依頼のあった時点で、何種類かの単価血清を確保できたに過ぎず、またカンボジアに生息する毒蛇の種類やどこで血清を入手できるかについての情報を持っていなかった。EHAからGHDNetを経由して、関連メーリングリストに問い合わせの電子メールが送られ、その結果、日本蛇毒センターおよびインド血清センターとの連絡が取れた。血清がカンボジアへ空路送られたのは8月16日であった。この事例から、インターネットおよび国際的な規模で各種の専門家を結びつけることのできる災害ネットワークの有用性が確認された。


Information Transmission through the Internet for the Preparedness against Venomous Snake as the Aftermath of Cambodian Flood in 1997

Information transmission is one of the key factors in disaster management, and the information system should satisfy various needs of people in the disaster areas. Since 1995, the authors have organized an information network, the Global Health Disaster Network (GHDNet) that is expected to be active in natural or manmade disasters in east Asia1). Our first activity is launching the GHDNet Home Page (http://apollo.m.ehime-u.ac.jp/GHDNet/) and home pages for disaster-related organizations and individuals. This activity is named "Internet APOLLO Project" according to the name of our server. The second is maintaining mailing lists for those involved in emergency medicine. Our mailing lists have strong connections with some mailing lists for specialists of other related fields.

A mailing list is a computer system that enables us to send e-mails to a large number of members on the list automatically. Mailing lists maintained by us are The Mailing List for Emergency Medicine (EML), for Fire and Disaster Prevention, for Emergency Medical Centers, for Japan Red Cross members, and for Disaster and Public Health. Mailing lists Closely Linked with our Emergency Mailing List include ML-Poison, World NGO Network (WNN) and Critical Care Network.

In this paper we report a case in which the GHDNet played an important role in transmission of disaster information.

On Aug. 6, 1997, request for snake antiserum for 100 people was sent from the Government of Cambodia to the Emergency and Humanitarian Action (EHA), Western Pacific Regional Office. There had been a serious flood in Cambodia and quite a lot of snakebite cases were expected aftermath the flood. However, they could provide only few types of monovalent antiserum, and also they had very limited information about the snakes in Cambodia.

Then request for Collaboration was sent from EHA, WHO to one of the GHDNet member on Aug.13 by e-mail and the mail was forwarded to three related mailing lists, EML, ML-Poison and WNN. Consequently, from the members of ML-Poison, several e-mails were sent to us introducing specialists of venomous snakes.

Fig.1 shows the course of the information relay. By August 18th, the EHA could contact specialists from Colorado State University and Japan Snake Institute. They recommended purchasing the antiserum from The Serum Institute of India, as India shares many families of snakes with Cambodia (Tab.1) and as the Institute might have stored enough volume of antiserum. Finally, in Aug.18, antiserum for 100 persons was ordered to the Serum Institute of India, and was transported to Cambodia by air. On 19, additional information about the proper quantity of antiserum was sent from Japan Snake Center to the EHA.

Fig.1 Course of the information relay


Table 1. Venomous snakes in Cambodia and in India

Lately, the Cambodian Ministry of Health, reported that after the flood in 1996 the number of snakebite cases was 13 in the two provinces that were affected by the flood most (
Tab.2) . In 1997, because of the effect of El NINO, Cambodia had been affected by three times of flood which occurred earlier than usual. Therefore, there was some concern that further increase in water level could lead to serious land damages and more snakebite cases.

Tab. 2. Flood situations in Cambodia

Luckily, in the summer of 1997, the number of snakebite cases was only 5 in the three provinces. They considered that the serum antivenin provided by WHO in 1997 was sufficient for the use in 1998. The Cambodian Bureau of Health emergency management and the medical supply center are the main division for distributing and keeping the serum.

We conclude that on this occasion, prompt information exchange was essential to minimize the number of casualties by snakebite, and the Internet proved to be quite helpful to connect specialists each other on an international scale. It is strongly recommended to organize disaster-related networks during the pre-disaster period.


Reference

1) Ochi G, Shirakawa Y, Tanaka M, et al. An Introduction to the Global Health Disaster Network (GHDNet) . Japanese Journal of Disaster Medicine 1997; 2: 18-22


■The Global Health Disaster Network (GHDNet)