While feeding a 5-year-old male black mamba, a 34-year-old snake breeder suddenly noticed a tiny bloody mark on his forearm and, at the same time, a slight tingling of his lips. He immediately realized that he had been bitten and called a befriended snake expert to seek advice. The patient was thus able to provide the first responders with detailed information about the snake and on where to obtain the corresponding antivenin. He instructed his wife to apply a pressure bandage to the forearm. Within the next five minutes, chest tightness, generalized paresthesia, and fasciculation occurred. Upon arrival of the ambulance, the patient was unable to walk, was tachypneic, and had prominent dysarthria. Assuming a concomitant allergic reaction, the paramedics administered methylprednisolone, clemastine, and adrenaline before transferring the patient to the nearest hospital. In the meantime, the Swiss helicopter ambulance collected the antivenin from one of the 8 national antivenin depots.
Forty minutes after the bite, the patient arrived in the emergency department, complaining of worsening fasciculations and paresthesia affecting the extremities and the face. On physical examination, he was fully conscious with a heart rate of 105/min and a blood pressure of 165/80 mmHg. He was tachypneic at 30/min. Pulse oximetry revealed an oxygen saturation of 95% on room air. There were two tiny puncture wounds with local swelling and redness on the left forearm. Motor function was normal, except for mild ptosis. Seventy minutes after the bite, the patient was given 2 vials (20 ml) of “SAMIR Polyvalent Snake Antivenin” together with 2.5 mg of IV midazolam for ongoing hyperventilation. Thereafter, the patient was transferred to our tertiary intensive care unit for further treatment.
Upon arrival in our ICU, the patient was hemodynamically stable but still tachycardic and tachypneic. Fasciculations, dysarthria, and ptosis had slightly improved. ECG showed a grade 1 atrioventricular block without any other abnormalities. Initial laboratory tests were unremarkable, apart from moderate respiratory alkalosis. Over the next few hours, sweating, chills, and difficulty with swallowing as well as nausea occurred. However, the airway was never compromised, coughing reflex was intact, and respiratory failure did not occur. Therefore, and because of initial concerns about a possible allergic reaction, we decided against further antivenin administration. On the next day, symptoms of envenomation had improved, but the patient developed cellulitis of the bitten forearm and rhabdomyolysis, with a peak serum creatine kinase level of 16,049 U/L. Upon treatment with intravenous fluids and amoxicillin/sulbactam, his condition gradually improved. After four days in the hospital, he was discharged home with muscular pain as the only residual symptom. A few weeks later, the patient had fully recovered.