Clinical profile of snake bite in children at a tertiary care center

Abstract

Background: Snake bite is a common neglected emergency in children. The present research was undertaken to study clinical profile of snake bite in children below 12 years of age. Method: This was a 4 years retrospective (2011-2014) and 2 years prospective (2015-2016), observational study conducted in 43 children with history of snake bite admitted in paediatric Intensive care unit and ward of a tertiary care teaching hospital during a period of 6 years from 2011 to 2016. Results: Majority of cases were in the age groups of 9-12 years (46.5%) with male preponderance (65.1%). 79.10% children had snake bite during outdoor activity at day time (76.74%), lower limbs were the commonest site (65.1%) and 53.4% cases did not receive any appropriate first aid after snake-bite. 69.76% children were vasculotoxic. Common symptom/sign were local pain, swelling (95.3%) and cellulitis (70.02%). 46.51% children had moderate and 44.1% had severe grade of envenomation. ASV was administered in 95.3% of cases and most of the cases were treated with 11-20 vials of ASV. Out of 3 died cases, 2 died due to respiratory failure and 1 died due to DIC with shock with AKI. Conclusion: The most vulnerable to snake bites were boys aged between 9-12 years. It must be emphasized that this study probably represent a biased population of sicker children, but we believe it should provide a good overview of children with snakebite present to tertiary hospitals.