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
“On Thursday, September 6, 1906, information was brought to me that a
child, aged 7 or 8, in inserting his hand into a mole’s hole had been
bitten by a _lifwafwa_ (’Death-Death,’ _i.e._, Puff Adder). I set off
in all haste on my bicycle. An accident obliged me to leave the road
when half-way, and, to complete the series of mishaps, I went to a
village with a similar name, a good half-hour distant from that where
the patient lived. The result was that by the time I arrived I should
say that about two hours had elapsed since the child had been bitten.
The snake had been killed, and was, indeed, a puff adder. It had bitten
the child in the middle finger of the right hand, and half the arm
was greatly swollen, and as hard as stone. As quickly as possible I
gave an injection of 10 c.c. of antivenomous serum, and then vainly
endeavoured to make the wound bleed. In a very short time the serum was
absorbed. On the following morning the child was still ill, with wild
eyes resembling those of an epileptic. He yawned continually, and did
not seem altogether conscious; the inflammation, however, had greatly
diminished. A few days later recovery was complete, but a large abscess
formed on the forearm, and the hand became necrosed. I was obliged to
amputate all the phalanges. The natives said the child was going to
die during the night. In my opinion the serum saved the child’s life,
and recovery would have been more rapid had I not been so late in
arriving.”
L.--Lachesis ferox (known as the _Grage_, in French Guiana).
XXXIII.--Case reported by Dr. Lhomme.
“In May, 1898, A., aged 48, a European convict undergoing sentence, was
admitted to the Penitentiary Infirmary, of Roches de Kouvous (French
Guiana), suffering from a poisonous bite.
“The man had been bitten while engaged in felling timber, at the place
called Passouva. The locality is one that is infested with snakes,
especially at the end of the wet season. Two venomous species in
particular are found there in considerable numbers, the rattle-snake
and another called the _Grage_ by the blacks, which appears to be a
_Lachesis_.
“The patient arrived at the Infirmary in the evening, about twelve
hours after the accident. We endeavoured to obtain precise details,
but, owing to special circumstances, A., who was alone, had been unable
to see what animal had bitten him. The clinical signs, however, pointed
to a venomous snake; inflammatory phenomena and pain set in soon after
the wound was inflicted, and in a very short time became acute.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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