Many superstitions and myths regarding snake bites cause a delay in receiving emergency treatment modalities to the patient. The death due to snake bite is 40 to 50 thousand per year, and most of the deaths occur in rural areas due to the poor availability of the health care system. In modern India, snakebite remains an underestimated cause of accidental death. The patient was moved to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) for further management (Figure 1). After completion of three rounds of PALS, the carotid pulse was palpable and the patient reverted to spontaneous circulation (ROSC).
On physical examination, swelling on her right hand with a fang mark, sweating, bradycardic, bradypnea, and salivation were observed. Vital signs included heart rate 30 bpm and were essentially nearing full cardiac arrest with unrecordable other vital signs. Immediately Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) was started. The parents primarily visited the local area physician and he revealed a snake bite based on the physical examination and referred her to the multispecialty hospital. Her parents stated that she was in her usual state of health until the afternoon when suddenly they found their child unresponsive in the house and they noticed a bite mark on her right-hand finger with discolor. Primary preventive measures were taken by the physician. Case PresentationĪ 14-year-old adolescent girl was brought by her parents to the ED in an unconscious state with a complaint of a snake bite during the day. Case fatality rates can be higher when patients do not have immediate access to life-saving anti-snake venom serum (ASVS), which is frequent in developing-country rural communities. Although the venom contains a few additional neurotoxic ingredients, it has no cytotoxic, haematotoxic, or other components. Cobra and Krait are both neurotoxic. It is primarily composed of a highly strong presynaptic neurotoxin that prevents impulses from nerve terminals from being transferred to muscle receptors. Clinically, snakebite envenomation is divided into two categories: neurotoxic and vasculotoxic. It is a source of concern for medical professionals. High mortality from toxic snakebite is a serious health issue. The majority of the bites occurred at night as the victims slept on the floor. All of the patients were from impoverished agricultural families living in villages, and the vast majority of them (96%) slept on the floor. After neurotoxic envenomation caused by a common Krait bite, the patient requires a very large dose of polyvalent anti-snake venom (ASV) to overcome the neurological manifestations. Make sure you come prepared, though, and your journey will be that much easier.Kraits usually bite at night when they enter dwellings in search of food.
If you have the chance I highly suggest you take a trip out to Xinjiang. You won’t be able to access that in Xinjiang, so unless you have all those emails memorized, print them out and take them with you (or email them to your Sina account!). If you’re like me, you keep all your email contacts in an online database.