Citation

Lifshitz M, Maimon N, Livnat S. Toxicon 2003; 41(4): 535-537.

Affiliation

Toxicology Unit, Soroka University Medical Center and Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 151, Beer-Sheva 84101, Israel. matyl@bgumail.bgu.edu.il

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12657325

Abstract

A 22-year-old woman was bitten on the third finger of her left hand by a Walterinnesia aegyptia (desert black cobra). Local signs included a marked swelling of the entire hand with pain along the left upper limb. Systemic reactions were irritability, fever, tachycardia, ventricular premature beats, nausea and high blood leukocytes count. About 15 h post-envenomation the patient had no symptoms except for a mild swelling of the hand. Despite the severe toxic venom composition of the W. aegyptia, the clinical course of our patient was relatively benign. This could be explained by the snake's behavior and the mechanism by which the venom penetrates the body. A survey of the literature revealed only a few clinical cases reported. Most of the information concerning W. aegyptia was collected from laboratory and animal studies.

Language: en