Philodryas olfersii: state of the art

Abstract

Philodryassp. in particular, P. olfersii is an attractive snake emanated by its green color, with a brown stripe along the back, and an inoffensive appearance. Accidents are rare due to the posterior position of the inoculating teeth (opisthoglyphous), but they are not free-effects either local as systemic. Although most studies with this poison date back less than 3 decades, which started with the Duvernoy’s gland secretion and came to transcriptomic analysis, besides the fractioning of the venom to isolate substances responsible for toxic effects, all efforts are converging to the understanding of its pathological mechanisms. We immersed in a scientific platform looking for Philodryas olfersii aiming to establish its “state of the art”. In this work, we hope to sensitize the medical community about the severity of envenomation by P. olfersii can cause, mainly to children, and also the population about the risks of manipulation of this sympathetic snake. Besides, we reinforce that any therapeutic strategy aiming to mitigate the clinical evolution of envenoming is highly desirable.