Two Sri Lankan cases of identified sea snake bites, without envenoming
Section snippets
Case 1
A 7-year-old boy was bitten by a sea snake when wading in the sea off Galle Face, Colombo's best known and popular beach promenade. The snake was recovered and identified as Pelamis platurus a highly venomous species belonging to the sub family Hydrophiinae (family Elapidae) (Fig. 1). Its total length was 70 cm.
On admission, a linear scratch mark of 2.5 cm was present on the dorsal aspect of his right wrist (Fig. 2) without surrounding redness or swelling. He had no myalgia, ptosis,
Case 2
A 39-year-old German tourist was bitten by a sea snake on his left leg, when swimming about 1 mile off the southern coast of Sri Lanka in Bentota. He killed the snake and presented to hospital 4 h later. The snake was identified as Enhydrina schistosa (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) total length 110 cm (Fig. 3a and b).
On admission he had mild redness around two bite marks. There was no pain, local swelling or oozing from the fang marks nor regional lymphadenopathy. Signs of systemic envenoming such as
Discussion
Sea snake bites are encountered very infrequently but among them those associated with non-envenoming (‘dry bites’) are frequent. (1) Sea snakes are not common in the coastal waters of Sri Lanka and the risk to swimmers is very small although fishermen have encountered sea snakes, when hauling in fishing nets (de Silva, 1994, Fernando and Gooneratne, 1983, Reid, 1975). (2) Sea snake bites are very rare in children.
Sea snake bites are usually painless and envenoming does not cause local signs
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the staff of the National hospital, Sri Lanka and staff of Lady Ridgeway children's hospital Colombo, for their support given in the care of these two patients. We would like to acknowledge Dr. Malik Fernando and Prof. Rathnasooriya for helping us in identification of these sea snakes. We thank also Prof. David Warrell for his helpful criticism.
References (6)
Diagnosis prognosis and treatment of sea-snake bite
Lancet
(1961)Colour Guide to snakes of Sri Lanka
(1990)An account of the Sea snake (Serpentes: Hydrophiidae) of Sri Lanka
Cited by (12)
Enhydrina schistosa (Elapidae: Hydrophiinae) the most dangerous sea snake in Sri Lanka: Three case studies of severe envenoming
2014, ToxiconCitation Excerpt :Sea snake bite is regarded as a trivial issue in the country in spite of there being many artisanal fishermen all round the island as well as recreational users of the sea. There is lack of epidemiological data concerning sea snake bite in the island, apart from occasional case reports (Amarasekara et al., 1994; Senanayake et al., 2005). We can assume that victims of sea snake bites are often treated by traditional healers and fatalities are not reported to the health authority.
Future directions in the research and management of marine snakes
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2010, Annals of the Academy of Medicine Singapore