Abstract
We experienced a total of 21cases of snakebite by mamushi, a Japanese pit viper, from April 2003 to March 2005 at our hospital and studied the clinical features in these patients. Results showed that the most prevalent season for such bites was between August and September. Most of the patients were in their sixties and were admitted to the emergency room of our hospital from 12 : 00 to 20 : 00. The most affected sites of the body were the fingers followed by the toes. The accidents tended to be more frequent on cloudy days. Hospitalization period was longer for patients with severe symptoms. All of these patients were treated with therapy that included local incision, cepharanthin and antivenin. Because the serum sickness that might occur after administration of antivenin was reported in the literature to be not significant, antivenin treatment should be recommended to rapidly ease the symptoms of this snakebite.
