OBJECTIVE To compare the relative efficacy of the green pit viper antivenom from Thailand and Agkistrodon halys antivenom from China. DESIGN. In-vivo experimental study. SETTING A wildlife conservation organisation, a university, a poison information centre, and a regional hospital in Hong Kong. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Pre- and post-antivenom lethal dose 50 (LD50) of the Cryptelytrops albolab...

Venom detection is crucial for confirmation of envenomation and snake type in snake-bite patients. Enzyme immunoassay (EIA) is used to detect venom, but antivenom in samples prevents venom detection. We aimed to detect snake venom in post-antivenom samples after dissociating venom-antivenom complexes with glycine-HCl (pH 2.2) and heating for 30 min at 950 °C. Serum samples underwent dissociatio...

Hypnale hypnale (hump-nosed pit viper) is a medically important venomous snake in Sri Lanka and Southwestern India. Bite of this snake may result in hemostatic dysfunction, acute kidney injury and death. Clinical studies indicated that the locally available polyvalent antivenoms produced in India are not effective against hump-nosed pit viper envenoming. Hence, there is an urgent need to search...

CONTEXT Serum sickness is a delayed immune reaction resulting from the injection of foreign protein or serum. Antivenom is known to cause serum sickness but the incidence and characteristics are poorly defined. OBJECTIVE To investigate the incidence and clinical features of serum sickness following the administration of Australian snake antivenoms. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a prospecti...

Snake antivenoms are the only definitive management of snake envenoming. Parenteral administration of antivenom mitigates the toxic effects due to snake venom components. However, these benefits come with additional risk of antivenom reactions. The morbidity and mortality of antivenom reactions largely go unnoticed due to lack of awareness and many times these are wrongly attributed to effects ...

Bothrops atrox snakes are the leading cause of snake bites in Northern Brazil. The venom of this snake is not included in the antigen pool used to obtain the Bothrops antivenom. There are discrepancies in reports on the effectiveness of this antivenom to treat victims bitten by B. atrox snakes. However, these studies were performed using a pre-incubation of the venom with the antivenom and, thu...

Essentials Russell's viper envenoming is a major health issue in South Asia and causes coagulopathy. We studied the effect of fresh frozen plasma and two antivenom doses on correcting coagulopathy. Fresh frozen plasma did not hasten recovery of coagulopathy. Low-dose antivenom did not worsen coagulopathy. SUMMARY Background Russell's viper (Daboia russelii) envenoming is a major health issue ...

BACKGROUND Rhabdophis tigrinus (Yamakagashi snake) is a rear-fanged colubrid snake present throughout Russia and Asia. Its venom induces life-threatening hemorrhagic symptoms and severe disseminated intravascular coagulation with a fibrinolytic phenotype. R. tigrinus antivenom manufactured by the immunization of horses to neutralize the venom has the risk of adverse events such as anaphylaxis a...

The benefits from treatment with antivenom sera are indubitable. However, the mechanism for toxin neutralization has not been completely elucidated. A mixture of anti-bothropic and anti-crotalic horse antivenom has been reported to be more effective in neutralizing the effects of Bothrops jararacussu snake venom than anti-bothropic antivenom alone. This study determined which regions in the thr...

BACKGROUND Snake bite is a common medical emergency in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The taipan, Oxyuranus scutellatus, inflicts a large number of bites that, in the absence of antivenom therapy, result in high mortality. Parenteral administration of antivenoms manufactured in Australia is the current treatment of choice for these envenomings. However, the price of these products is high and has incr...