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Why does it take a herpetologist to identify whether the snake is one of the four that the antivenom works for? How long does it really take to be able to recognize four species of snake? Give me a break. These people bringing the snake to the hospital seem to be better educated than the doctor. I hope that guy's not giving me antivenom for some snake-venom it is useless on.
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Replied on Saturday, October 16, 2010 2:51 PM
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The article does NOT say it needs a herpetologist to identify the snake! It says that the doctor uses the right symptoms to administer ASV. In point of fact most snakes identified by doctors are identified incorrectly! Also there are a great deal more than 4 snakes of medical significance in Insdia.
A great deal of ASV is wasted because it is given when not required because western criteria are used.
IDS
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Replied on Sunday, October 17, 2010 9:36 AM
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The article DOES say "Most people bring a dead snake to the hospital and the doctor's definitely not a herpetologist." Your point that they are mostly incorrectly identified just supports what I said! ASV in India is only useful for the bites of Cobra, Common Krait, Russell's Viper, and Saw-scaled Viper. My comment, which you seem to have misunderstood, is that if a doctor considers him/herself to be a professional, then why should they not teach themselves to identify these four species of snake? That is not difficult, and it is critical that ASV not be wasted on envenomation caused by another type of snake other than the Big Four. Using Indian ASV for a Banded Krait or a Pit Viper for example, is useless and actually puts the patient at unnecessary risk of complications or death from the serum. Administering ASV based on symptoms alone may be the right thing to do if you have no information about the type of snake, but otherwise an identification is ideal. No?
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Replied on Monday, October 18, 2010 10:48 AM
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