Exotic snake bite in SA [Jamesons mamba]

[Bushviper]

This morning a snake handler got bitten by and exotic snake. Luckily it was a Jamesons mamba and the antivenom we produce in South Africa covers this specific snake species.

The victim was putting the snake in a square plastic tub and as he went to close the last corner of the lid it popped out, bit him and retreated before he could react. Within 4 minutes he was feeling dizzy and light headed and with 15 minutes he was vomiting and had numbness around his lips and they were tingling. This progressed to muscle cramps, drowsiness, shortness of breath and a ringing in the ears.

The hospital had 7 vials of antivenom and a friend of the victim managed to get another 7 vials. The doctor discussed intubating the patient with me and luckily I could convince him that was a bad idea at that stage. The doctor then gave the victim 10 vials of antivenom directly into the vein via the drip cord.

The victim was still on oxygen at this stage and was complaining of muscle cramps, pins and needle effect in his lower limbs and partial deafness. Within two hours I was able to converse with the victim over the phone and the recovery was better than expected.

I believe that getting to the hospital quickly and getting enough antivenom at the first signs of serious envenomation ensured that this bite went off well. Staying calm and letting someone else drive him to the hospital was possibly what also made the difference in this bite compared to many others I have been involved in.

[Daniellouw]

Great stuff! Is the venom roughly the same as a Black mamba in make up?

[Bushviper]

Similar but not as strong. Worse than a green mamba though.

[Ruan Stander]

Glad to hear that the victim is doing fine and that he did not come off worse.

He was very fortunate to have been bitten by this particular species(odd as that sounds) in the sense that he had access to the suitable antivenom.

This goes to show that you can never be too careful. And it raises even more concern over the number of deadly exotics in the country.

[froot]

Considering the rapid onset of symptoms this species could kill you just as fast and dead as a black mamba. This is the first Jamesons bite I've ever heard of and although I'm thrilled that the victim is doing fine the comparison of symptoms to a black mamba is very interesting. Well done to all that made this treatment a success - assuming he is out of the woods by now. Where was he bitten?

[Sico]

It will be interesting to see if there are any long term effects regarding the cardiovascualr system in this patient due to the effects of the venom. BV see if you can get him to check his resting pulse rate and blood pressure on a daily basis for the next couple of weeks and chart any changes in the trends. From what I've been able to ascertain, thsi doesn't happen with D. polylepis or D. angusticeps, but in my case from the D. viridis, it looks like the antihypertensives are now going to be a life long medication.

[michael]

Sico, that’s really interesting. I can’t believe that the venom could have such long term effects. If only a bit of data could be collected to see if this is a common phenomenon with D. viridis.

[BOOGY]

Allot of the symptoms and progression thereof was documented. So it will be interesting to see all of the info together. We had a meeting about a month ago and one of the topics raised was to get all the info needed in the case of a bite onto an "info card". It was meant for our members, didn’t count on needing the info for “one of our own”.
Goes to show people, be careful ALWAYS! Oh an know who to contact .
Thanks for all your help Arno, oom Gert say he’s gonna give a bottle of Brannas when you come down for the Snakebite talk.