An Unusual Case of Acute Asthma after Snake Bite
Keywords:
Snake bite, Envenomation, Acute AsthmaAbstract
Background: Although the cytolytic, neurotoxic and haemolytic actions of snake venoms are well known, the ability of snake venom to induce asthma (as a distinct entity from just difficulty in breathing) is not previously reported in the literature.
Methods: The case records of the patient in the index case and a review of existing literature using online search via google, medline and pubmed with the following key words Snake bite; envenomation and acute asthma were utilized.
Results: We report the case of a 42 year Nigerian fisherman, not a previously known asthmatic, who was bitten by a snake and developed acute asthma in 30 minutes.
Conclusion: Acute Asthma after snake bite in the absence of signs of envenomation is rare. A high index of suspicion is needed in identifying this probable condition in patients exposed to snake bite. There is need for further investigation into the pathogenesis for this presentation.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2015 The Nigerian Health Journal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The Journal is owned, published and copyrighted by the Nigerian Medical Association, River state Branch. The copyright of papers published are vested in the journal and the publisher. In line with our open access policy and the Creative Commons Attribution License policy authors are allowed to share their work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations. While the advice and information in this journal are believed to be true and accurate on the date of its going to press, neither the authors, the editors, nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
TNHJ also supports open access archiving of articles published in the journal after three months of publication. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g, in institutional repositories or on their website) within the stated period, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access). All requests for permission for open access archiving outside this period should be sent to the editor via email to editor@tnhjph.com.
