Clinical Toxicology of Snakebite In Europe

Abstract

In Europe most naturally occurring venomous snakes belong to the family Viperidae, genus Vipera, and this chapter will only deal with the European vipers. The venoms from Viperid snakes have been less studied than many venoms from snakes belonging to the families Elapidae and Hydrophidae. In this respect there are also differences among the European vipers, and Vipera ammodytes and Vipera aspis seem to have been more extensively investigated as regards the toxins than Vipera berus. Most patients bitten by European vipers will present with a relatively mild clinical course, but severe cases are constantly found in every clinical report of magnitude. For the European vipers the main features of envenoming are local tissue damage, gastrointestinal symptoms and systemic circulatory disturbances. The symptomatology of European viper envenomation has been described in numerous case reports, but it has also been analysed more thoroughly in a number of larger clinical reports.