Snakebites by Bothrops spp in children in Campinas, Säo Paulo, Brazil
Rev. Inst. Med. Trop. Säo Paulo
;
43(6): 329-333, Nov.-Dec. 2001. tab
Article
in English
| LILACS
| ID: lil-303043
RESUMEN
From January, 1984 to March, 1999, 73 children under 15 y old (ages 1-14 y, median 9 y) were admitted after being bitten by snakes of the genus Bothrops. Twenty-six percent of the children were classified as mild envenoming, 50.7 percent as moderate envenoming and 20.6 percent as severe envenoming. Two patients (2.7 percent) showed no signs of envenoming. Most of the patients presented local manifestations, mainly edema (94.5 percent), pain (94.5 percent) ecchymosis (73.9 percent) and blisters (11 percent). Local and/or systemic bleeding was observed in 28.8 percent of the patients. Before antivenom (AV) administration, blood coagulation disorders were observed in 60.7 percent (incoagulable blood in 39.3 percent) of the 56 children that received AV only in our hospital. AV early reactions, most of which were considered mild, were observed in 44.6 percent of these cases (in 15/30 patients not pretreated and in 10/26 patients pretreated with hydrocortisone and histamine H1 and H2 antagonists). The main clinical complications observed were local infection (15.1 percent), compartment syndrome (4.1 percent), gangrene (1.4 percent) and acute renal failure (1.4 percent). No deaths were recorded. There were no significant differences with regard to severity of envenoming versus the frequency of blood coagulation disorders among the three categories of envenoming (p = 0.75) or in the frequency of patients with AV early reactions between the groups that were and were not pretreated (p = 0.55). The frequency of local infection was significantly greater in severe cases (p < 0.001). Patients admitted more than 6 h after the bite had a higher risk of developing severe envenoming (p = 0.04)
Full text:
Available
Index:
LILACS (Americas)
Main subject:
Snake Bites
/
Bothrops
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Risk factors
Limits:
Animals
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
South America
/
Brazil
Language:
English
Journal:
Rev. Inst. Med. Trop. Säo Paulo
Journal subject:
Tropical Medicine
Year:
2001
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Brazil
Institution/Affiliation country:
Universidade Estadual de Campinas/BR
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