Clinical and demographic profile of snake envenomation in Himachal Pradesh, India.

Abstract

We describe profile of 60 children [mean (SD) age, 9.5 (3.8) y] presenting to the department of Pediatrics with snake envenomation. Neurotoxic bites were predominant (53%) and required mean (SD) 21.5 (9.29) antisnake venom vials, while children with neurohemotoxic features required mean (SD) 31.2 (10.8) vials to improve. Duration of hospital stay was median (SD) 4.0 (2.71) days. The commonest complication was respiratory dysfunction; mortality rate was 13.3%.