Different symptoms than neurotoxic

* Parents thought it was normal

* Shifted to KIMS Saveera with severe breathlessness

* Consultant Paediatrician Dr. Mahesh saves child with timely treatment

Generally, a snake bite causes foaming along the mouth and neurotoxic problems are caused. But, a 12-year-old child had none of these. He had only abdominal pain and vomiting. Not only parents, but common doctors also can’t find the proper reason for such cases. This happened in Anantapur district. Consultant Paediatrician Dr. A. Mahesh explained the details thereof.

“A 12-year-old male child came to our emergency with severe respiratory distress. The child was ventilated as his room air saturation was just 66%, and chest x-ray showed bilateral haziness suggestive of pneumonia.  But there was no history of fever/cough/cold, the child was fine till the previous day. But, as the saturation was too low, we intubated him and started the treatment. So, they advised the parents to take the child to KIMS Saveera Hospital for better treatment. The above history suggests atypical symptoms of krait bite (neurotoxic snake bite). In such cases, complaints will sometimes start as GI symptoms like above, but not like typical neurological symptoms.

As the snake bite was confirmed, the child was started as ASV with calcium followed by which, the child improved and extubated after 2 days. Later we discharged him with a normal neurological status.

Any child from a rural area, who slept on the ground with symptoms of severe abdominal pain, and wakes up in the night should be suspected of krait bite” explained Dr. A. Mahesh.