We present a normal 13-year old female who developed left cerebral infarction following envenomation by the carpet viper (Echis carinatus). We have read of only one other case of cerebral infarction following viper envenomation (Viperi russelli). Possible mechanisms for cerebral infarction in these circumstances are discussed. It is believed that this complication may be more common than is rep...

BACKGROUND Zootherapy inventories are important as they contribute to the world documentation of the prevalence, importance and diversity of the medicinal use of animals in traditional human communities. The present study aims to contribute with a more valuable example of the zootherapy practices of a traditional community in the Brazilian Amazonia - the "Riozinho do Anfrísio" Extractive Reserv...

Humans are rapidly altering natural systems, leading to changes in the distribution and abundance of species. However, so many changes are occurring simultaneously (e.g., climate change, habitat fragmentation) that it is difficult to determine the cause of population fluctuations from correlational studies. We used a manipulative field experiment to determine whether forest canopy cover directl...

A snake (of length L) is a (continuous) piecewise C1-curve S : [0, L] → R, parameterized by arc-length and whose “tail” is at the origin (S(0) = 0). Charming a snake consists in having it move in such a way that its “snout” S(L) follows a chosen C1-curve γ(t). The snake charmer algorithm, initiated in [Ha2] for polygonal snakes and developed in [Ro] in the general case, works as follows. The in...

There is no report of the use of antisnake venom (ASV) in the neonatal age group in literature. We report a 27 days old female neonate who presented with neuroparalytic manifestations of snake bite and was treated successfully with ASV. A total of 50 vials (500 mL) of polyvalent antisnake venom were given as infusion in hourly aliquots of 50 mL, over 72 hours.

i he use ot injections of 2 per cent, solutions of hypochlorite of lime and calcium hypochlorite has been recommended by Calmette for immediate treatment in snake bite. He states that those solutions are effective and possess the advantage of not producing severe local destructive effects. It was suggested that outfits of ampoules containing hypochlorite solution might be useful for those expos...

During the past few years a great deal of interest has been taken in the use of snake venoms in medical treatment. The results obtained in a series of cases treated in the Carmichael Hospital and School of Tropical Medicine, Calcutta, have been reported previously by the present authors (Chopra and Chowhan, 1937). Since then, the opportunity for treating a large number of patients suffering fro...

Diagnosis of snake envenomation is challenging but critical for deciding on antivenom use. Phospholipase A2 enzymes occur commonly in snake venoms and we hypothesized that phospholipase activity detected in human blood post-bite may be indicative of envenomation. Using a simple assay, potentially a bedside test, we detected high phospholipase activity in sera of patients with viper and elapid e...