Comparison of snakebite cases in children and adults

Abstract

Objective: There are very few studies that compare the snakebite cases in children and adults. The present study aimed to compare the demographic characteristics, clinical presentations, laboratory findings, and developed complications in pediatric and adult patients due to snakebites.

Patients and methods: This study included the patients admitted to the hospital and monitored due to snakebite between July 1999 and December 2012. The condition of each patient who had been bitten was admitted to the hospital was monitored from the time of admission to the end of their hospital stay. The fact that a snakebite occurred was recorded if the subjects saw the snake or if the appearance of the puncture sites was convincingly a snakebite.

Results: The present work included 290 patients, of whom 123 were children and 167 were adults. The most common location of the bites was the lower extremity with 78.9% (n=97) and 63.5% (n=106) in pediatric and adult patients, respectively. All of the pediatric patients received prophylactic treatment with antibiotics, whereas 62 (37.1%) adult patients received antimicrobial treatments due to the soft tissue infection. The most common complication developed was pulmonary edema in children at a rate of 33.3% (n=41) and compartment syndrome in adult patients at a rate of 3% (n=5).

Conclusions: Patients admitted to the hospital due to snakebite should be monitored for at least 12 hours, even if there is no sign of clinical envenomation. Antivenom treatment should be administered to the patients requiring clinical staging. Patients should be kept under close monitoring to prevent the development of serious complications such as cellulitis, pulmonary edema, compartment syndrome, and disseminated intravascular coagulation.