Venoms: Venomous Animals and Antivenomous Serum-therapeuticsCalmette, A. (Albert)
Science
Venoms: Venomous Animals and Antivenomous Serum-therapeutics
Calmette, A. (Albert)
Antitoxins; Poisonous snakes; Toxins; Venom
“G. W. R., a Mahomedan, aged about 12, was admitted into hospital on
March 10, 1902, at 9.30 p.m., having been bitten by a snake on the
dorsum of the right foot an hour and a half previously. The snake was
killed by his sister, and was subsequently identified at the Research
Laboratory, Bombay, as an _Echis carinata_ (Phoorsa).
“I saw the patient at about 9.45. The dorsum of the foot was swollen,
and the swelling extended above the ankle-joint. The knee reflexes
were very exaggerated, and the boy was somewhat drowsy. Since he was
gradually getting worse, I decided to inject 5 c.c. of Calmette’s
antivenene. I got the hospital assistant under my supervision to inject
it into the right calf, to cauterise the bite with silver nitrate, and
to apply a 1 in 40 carbolic poultice. Very soon (fifteen minutes) after
this the pain in the thigh, which had reached to the right groin, began
to disappear. During the night the patient was very sleepy, and the
attendants had great difficulty in keeping him awake.
“March 12.--This morning the patient is much better; there is still
considerable swelling of the foot, but the pain is much less. All other
symptoms are gone.”
XXVIII.--Case reported by Surgeon-Captain Sutherland I.M.S., Saugor,
C.P., India.
Case of a woman bitten on the finger on July 22, 1898, by an _Echis
carinata_. Treated six hours later with 10 c.c. of serum. Recovery.
I.--Cerastes.
XXIX.--Case reported by Dr. Moudon, of Konakry, French Guinea.
“On December 9, 1898, a Foulah woman, eight months pregnant, was
collecting wood when she was bitten in the heel, behind the internal
malleolus of the right foot, by a snake which, from the description
given, must have been a Horned Viper. When I saw her, four hours after
the accident, the whole of the lower leg was swollen and painful.
The swelling extended to the groin, and the patient complained of
vertigo and nausea. I immediately gave her an injection of 10 c.c. of
antivenomous serum in the right flank, followed by a second injection
at 10 p.m. Ten days later, with the Commandant of the _Fulton_, I
saw her again at her village; she had no symptom of malaise, and the
pregnancy was taking its normal course.”
XXX.--Case of a bite from a Horned Viper reported by Dr. Mons, in
charge of the Military Hospital of Laghouat, Algeria.
“Mohamed ben Naouri, a day labourer, aged 26, during the summer catches
Horned Vipers, which he stuffs and sells.
“On August 3 a _Cerastes_, which he was holding down on the sand with a
forked stick, disengaged itself and fastened on his hand. The snake was
a large one, about 50 cm. in length.
“The accident happened at 6.30 a.m., 6 kilometres from Laghouat, and
the man was bitten on the joint between the second and third phalanges
of the third finger of the right hand. He applied a ligature to his
wrist, and started to run as fast as he could towards the Military
Hospital, where he arrived an hour later.
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