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
“About 7 a.m., on November 25, 1896, G., aged 23, a fusilier belonging
to the disciplinary battalion, was bitten by a _Bothrops_ at Fort
Desaix under the following circumstances. One of his comrades had just
caught the snake, and was holding its head down on the ground by means
of a forked stick applied to the neck. G. passed a running noose round
the reptile’s neck, but, his comrade having withdrawn the fork too
soon, the snake had time to dart at him and bite him in left thumb. At
the moment when he was bitten the man was squatting, but he quickly
stood up, carrying with him the snake, which remained for a few seconds
suspended from the thumb by its fangs, and did not let go until its
victim had struck it on the head with his fist. G. immediately ran
to one of his officers, who applied a tight ligature to the base of
his thumb, and sent him off to the hospital, where he arrived on foot
and quite out of breath, ten or twelve minutes after the accident. He
was at once given a hypodermic injection of 10 c.c. of antivenomous
serum in the left flank; the thumb was washed with a 1 in 60 solution
of hypochlorite of calcium, after which the ligature was removed. A
few moments later, thinking the case a serious one, I caused a second
injection of 10 c.c. of serum to be given in the right flank.
“Immediately after being bitten the patient experienced complete loss
of sensation in the limb, as far as the middle of the arm. About 9 a.m.
he complained of acute shooting pains in the hand. At 11 o’clock the
limb was still benumbed, but by degrees sensation returned. Profuse
sweating.
“On November 26 sensation was restored in the whole limb; no
inflammatory phenomena. The patient was perfectly well.
“The _Bothrops_ on being brought to the hospital measured 1 metre 47
cm. in length.”
XXXVII.--Case reported by Dr. Lavigne, Colonial-Surgeon at
Fort-de-France.
“At 7 a.m. on January 19, 1897, G., aged 22, was going along a footpath
near Trouvaillant, when he was bitten in the left external malleolus by
a _Trigonocephalus_ which was rutting (a circumstance which, according
to the natives, aggravates the character of the bite).
“After killing one of the reptiles (the other having escaped), the
young man made his way to the detachment of gendarmery stationed close
by. The officer in command applied a ligature to the upper part of
the leg, cupped the man a few times, and sent information to us at
the Military Hospital. On reaching the spot at 9.15 we found, on the
postero-inferior surface of the left external malleolus, two small
wounds resembling those caused by the bite of a snake. The leg was
swollen and painful, and the patient could hardly put his foot to the
ground.
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