Abstract
Introduction: 15 percent of the snakes are poisonous and present a potential life threatening risk to human lives. Objectives: (1) To review the demographic, epidemiological, clinical and laboratory findings of 48 patients of snake bite treated in a field hospital. (2) To evaluate the treatment and outcome of these patients. Design: A retrospective study. Setting: Field hospital in rural Sindh. Period: From January 2002 to December 2003. Material & Methods: All patients diagnosed with snake bite had first aid treatment by a either a nursing staff close to the place of bite or by a quack and later on transferred to field hospital. The first aid treatment consisted of pain relief (injectable diclofenac, oral acetaminophen), application of bandage or tourniquet proximal to the bite, antihistamine (oral or injectable chlorpheniramine) anti- inflammatory (injection hydrocortisone) and immobilization of the affected limb with a splint. Results: We are treated 48 patients with snake bite. There were 45(94%) male patients and 3(6%) female patients. Age range was 18 to 56 years with a mean age of 29.8 years. 35(73%) patients suffered from snake bite between the months of May and September. The timing of the bite was also peculiar with 36(75%) patients bitten between 8pm and 8am whereas only 12(25%) patients during other times of the day. 38(79%) patients gave history of seeing the snake themselves and 10(21%) patients were not able to see the snake mainly because of darkness. Conclusion It should be remembered that not all snakes are poisonous and that they are more afraid of humans than we are of them. Psychological effects of the bite are at times more devastating than the clinical effects, therefore patient reassurance forms part of the treatment.
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