Abstract
A patient, who died of cerebral hemorrhage resulting from a marked hemorrhagic tendency caused by a snake (Rhabdophis tigrinus, which has previously been considered to be atoxic) bite, was experienced.
The patient, a 14-year-old boy, was bitten on the back of the left hand by the snake, and developed a headache some ten minutes later, with subsequent swelling of the region of the lesion. A hemorrhagic tendency occurred about 16 hours after the snake bite, and the patient fell into a coma after about 19 hours, resulting in respiratory arrest some hours after that. CT scan of the head revealed cerebral hemorrhage in the left lobe and occipital lobe. No remission occurred in spite of exchange transfusion, and the patient died on the tenth day after the snake bite.
With regard to Rhabdophis tigrinus bite, when the toxic liquid secreted from the Duvernoy gland in the posterior part of the maxilla is injected into the human body, a hemorrhagic tendency is induced. In Japan, eight case including this case have been reported since the case of Sakamoto, all of them involving a hemorrhagic tendency. It is therefore necessary to guard against the occurrence of a hemorrhagic tendency in patients bitten by animals and to perform early exchange transfusion or antitoxic serm injection.
