Snakebite knowledge among healthcare workers in Gabon: A health facility-based cross-sectional survey

  Snakebite knowledge among healthcare workers in Gabon: A health facility-based cross-sectional survey Abstract Background Snakebite envenoming remains a neglected health issue in many countries, including Gabon, where the limited availability of snakebite-specific training, clinical guidelines, and essential resources at health facilities may lead to gaps in healthcare workers’ knowledge and confidence and the use of non-recommended treatment practices. This study aimed to assess healthcare workers’ knowledge of snakebite management in the Ogooué et des Lacs department of Moyen-Ogooué province in Gabon. Methods From June to August 2023, we conducted a cross-sectional survey targeting all healthcare workers in Ogooué et des Lacs who may be involved in snakebite management. We collected information on prior training, self-perceived knowledge of snakebite management, symptom recognition, clinical management practices, and snake identification. Knowledge was assessed using 10 true/fa...

An inordinate fondness for spinnerets: on some spiders of the genera Diplura C. L. Koch, 1850 and Linothele Karsch, 1879 with new species, records, and notes on types (Araneae: Dipluridae)

 


An inordinate fondness for spinnerets: on some spiders of the genera Diplura C. L. Koch, 1850 and Linothele Karsch, 1879 with new species, records, and notes on types (Araneae: Dipluridae)

Abstract
During recent routine curatorial work in the Natural History Museum, London three additional specimens, two of Diplura nigra (F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1896) and one of D. sanguinea (F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1896) – previously not known to have been separated from the original respective type samples according the museum database – were located in a box of returned material from an external loan. Thus, the number of paralectotypes of these taxa must be revised. We also record D. sanguinea from Colombia for the first time, further expanding the distribution range of this widespread taxon. Knowledge of the linothelid taxa of Colombia is advanced, with description of Linothele gaboi sp. nov. and Linothele wiwa sp. nov., and the first Colombian distribution records of L. curvitarsis Karsch, 1879. Additionally, we also describe two new species from Peru: L. abispa sp. nov. and L. wallacei sp. nov. Linothele melloleitaoi (Brignoli, 1983), from Colombia, is considered a nomen dubium.