Envenomations by Rattlesnakes Thought to Be Dead

Suchard, Jeffrey R.; LoVecchio, Frank

doi:10.1056/nejm199906173402420

Cited by 26 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 3 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Correctly identifying snakes can also minimize snakebites for people who attempt to kill the snake. If snakes are mishandled, envenoming by recently killed, decapitated or inadequately killed [75], preserved [76], and even frozen specimens [77] is possible. A lack of identification skills and knowledge about preventive measures against snakebite undoubtedly places inhabitants of agrarian lowlands in Nepal at increased risk of snakebite.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public perceptions of snakes and snakebite management: implications for conservation and human health in southern Nepal

Pandey

Devkota

et al. 2016

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundVenomous snakebite and its effects are a source of fear for people living in southern Nepal. As a result, people have developed a negative attitude towards snakes, which can lead to human-snake conflicts that result in killing of snakes. Attempting to kill snakes increases the risk of snakebite, and actual killing of snakes contributes to loss of biodiversity. Currently, snake populations in southern Nepal are thought to be declining, but more research is needed to evaluate the conservation status of snakes. Therefore, we assessed attitudes, knowledge, and awareness of snakes and snakebite by Chitwan National Park’s (CNP) buffer zone (BZ) inhabitants in an effort to better understand challenges to snake conservation and snakebite management. The results of this study have the potential to promote biodiversity conservation and increase human health in southern Nepal and beyond.MethodsWe carried out face-to-face interviews of 150 randomly selected CNP BZ inhabitants, adopting a cross-sectional mixed research design and structured and semi-structured questionnaires from January–February 2013.ResultsResults indicated that 43 % of respondents disliked snakes, 49 % would exterminate all venomous snakes, and 86 % feared snakes. Farmers were the most negative and teachers were the most ambivalent towards snakes. Respondents were generally unable to identify different snake species, and were almost completely unaware of the need of conserve snakes and how to prevent snakebites. Belief in a snake god, and the ability of snakes to absorb poisonous gases from the atmosphere were among many superstitions that appeared to predispose negativity towards snakes of BZ residents.ConclusionPeople with predisposed negativity towards snakes were not proponents of snake conservation. Fear, negativity, ambivalence towards, and ignorance about, snakes and the need for snake conservation were strong indicators of the propensity to harm or kill snakes. It seems that if wanton killing of snakes continues, local snake populations will decline, and rare and endangered snake species may even become locally extirpated. Moreover, inappropriate perception and knowledge about snakes and snakebites may put BZ people at increased risk of venomous snakebite. Therefore, intensive, pragmatic educational efforts focused on natural history and ecology of snakes and prevention of snakebite should be undertaken in communities and at schools and universities.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public perceptions of snakes and snakebite management: implications for conservation and human health in southern Nepal

Pandey

Devkota

et al. 2016

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Often, the specific part brought in is the decapitated head of the snake. While identification of the particular species of the offending crotalid rarely changes treatment parameters, many patients fail to realize that decapitated heads are still a risk for envenomation (7)(8)(9) or even ocular exposure. This case provides another example of why careless handling of severed rattlesnake heads should be discouraged.…”

Section: Ocular Exposure To Rattlesnake Venommentioning

confidence: 99%

Ocular Exposure to Rattlesnake Venom

Cantrell¹,

Barry²,

Breckenridge³

2003

Journal of Toxicology: Clinical Toxicology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…As it is clear in the discussed case, the local and systemic effects of certain types of venom closely resemble the signs and symptoms of compartment syndrome [5].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 56%

Case report: Compartment syndrome secondary to a snakebite; To cut or not to cut?

Al‐Azzawi¹,

Al-Azzawi²

2016

Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tCompartment syndrome, once diagnosed is almost always followed by a decision of fasciotomy, here we present a case of compartment syndrome which turned out to be secondary to a snakebite and where prophylactic fasciotomy is not considered in such a case as discussed in literature.Ó 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Case reportA 1-year old Omani child, with no known comorbidities, presented with 1 day history of swelling of the left lower limb. He was referred to the A&E from the Orthopaedics OPD.The previous afternoon, the patient was with his family at the Jabal, in an area full of grass around 1 foot high, around a spring. According to the mother, the patient was walking on his own on a pavement situated between grasses when he suddenly fell on both his knees. The patient didn't cry and the mother said she spotted few drops of blood oozing from the left knee only, then after half an hour she noticed the swelling. The mother said the child didn't cry during the whole event, and afterward he slept for 2 h, then he woke up crying and the swelling has increased and extended involving the whole thigh. The mother said when he woke up, the thigh was hot and he had fever (not documented). The family took him to a local health center, where by that time, it was still limited to the thigh and it was only a mild swelling according to the mother, there his temperature was noted to be high (mother doesn't recall how high) and he was given antibiotics.In the evening he started to vomit, he had 6 episodes of vomiting, which was yellowish in color, non-projectile, so he was taken to the A&E and an X-ray was taken of the limb, as the mother initially gave a history of fall from a height.They were referred then to the Orthopaedics OPD the following day and presented with an extended swelling of the left lower limb, and tense calf muscles, with pain on passive extension and was diagnosed to have compartment syndrome, so was sent immediately to the A&E. The mother denied doing any massage to the limb, and besides the given antibiotics, she applied turmeric on the whole limb.Upon arrival in the A&E the patient was in distress, being tachycardic of around 150 bpm reaching 180 bpm, was sick looking, in pain. Local examination of the left lower limb showed extensive swelling of the left lower limb compared to the right. Swelling was extending from his left groin to the ankle, involving the scrotum.The limb was covered by turmeric (herbal treatment) so was yellowish in color. There was significant tenderness on palpation and the left calf muscles were quite tense. There was increased pain on passive dorsiflexion.Distal pulses: dorsalis pedis and posterior tibial artery were palpable bilateral capillary refill time at the left toes were 3e4 s.Patient was initially planned for urgent fasciotomy because of the clinical findings, but upon investigations it was found he was having deranged coagulation p...

show abstract

Envenomations by Rattlesnakes Thought to Be Dead

Cited by 26 publications

References 3 publications

Public perceptions of snakes and snakebite management: implications for conservation and human health in southern Nepal

Public perceptions of snakes and snakebite management: implications for conservation and human health in southern Nepal

Ocular Exposure to Rattlesnake Venom

Case report: Compartment syndrome secondary to a snakebite; To cut or not to cut?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About