Mozambique Spitter Bite

[slangman]

First i would like to say how sorry i am for this chap . It is never a nice thing to hear about bites like this . Second , it seems to me from your responses that little has changed in the medical profession in the years since i last spoke to doctors in SA . In 1994 , we had a real hard time trying to convince our local GP that spitters had a predominantly cytotoxic venom and he produced a booklet issued to GP's and it clearly stated cobras and mambas were grouped together in a neurotoxic class without exception . His opinion was that the booklet was gospel and even when confronted with evidence of the effects of a spitter bite , wouldn't be swayed from his line of thinking . It is sad how 'profesionals' simply refuse to accept that there are people in the world ,who although not medical profesionals , do actually have a superior understanding of a certain field , like herpetology , than they do . I would have thought that somebody in the world of medicine in SA would have taken this field on board as a specialist activity as it seems their expertise would be much in demand in the country .

I wish this chap a speedy recovery and am really disapointed to hear of his ordeal and especially the lack of care he has recieved or lack of it .

regards
Nik

[CLSmith]

...His opinion was that the booklet was gospel and even when confronted with evidence of the effects of a spitter bite , wouldn't be swayed from his line of thinking . It is sad how 'professionals' simply refuse to accept that there are people in the world ,who although not medical professionals , do actually have a superior understanding of a certain field...

Just think for a moment, If they treat snakebites in this manner, how may other conditions (regardless the field of scope), do they also disregard alternative information?

That is scary!

[WW]

The best thing non-MDs can do in instances such as these is arm themselves with the original scientific papers from the medical literature that document either treatment approaches or indeed the syndrome of envenoming from the bites of different species. Then, you can refer to "proper" published papers published by "proper" medics in the "proper" medical literature. That should carry some weight with doubting medics, as well as underscoring the fact that you have done your homework and know what you are talking about.

A medic doesn't want to believe spitters cause necrosis? Hit them over the head with Tilbury's paper on Naja mossambica bites in the S. African Medical Journal in the 1980s (or indeed Warrell et al.'s on N. nigricollisfrom Nigeria). Warrell's chapter on African snakebites in Meier & White's Clinical Toxinology book is also invaluable - I can supply some of these as pdfs if required. Obviously, a paper copy of the entire book is better - you can hit harder with that.