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Acute Exposure to European Viper Bite in Children: Advocating for a Pediatric Approach

Viper bite is an uncommon but serious cause of envenoming in Europe, especially in children. Our study aim is to better describe and analyze the clinical course and treatment of viper bite envenoming in a pediatric population. We retrospectively reviewed 24 cases of pediatric viper bites that were a...

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Autores principales: Marano, Marco, Pisani, Mara, Zampini, Giorgio, Pontrelli, Giuseppe, Roversi, Marco
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8170888/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34063282
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins13050330
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author Marano, Marco
Pisani, Mara
Zampini, Giorgio
Pontrelli, Giuseppe
Roversi, Marco
author_facet Marano, Marco
Pisani, Mara
Zampini, Giorgio
Pontrelli, Giuseppe
Roversi, Marco
author_sort Marano, Marco
collection PubMed
description Viper bite is an uncommon but serious cause of envenoming in Europe, especially in children. Our study aim is to better describe and analyze the clinical course and treatment of viper bite envenoming in a pediatric population. We retrospectively reviewed 24 cases of pediatric viper bites that were admitted to the Pediatric Emergency Department and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of the Bambino Gesù Children Hospital in Rome between 2000 and 2020. Epidemiological characteristics of the children, localization of the bite, clinical and laboratory findings, and treatment approaches were evaluated. The median age of the patients was 4.2 years, with male predominance. Most cases of viper bite occurred in the late summer. Most patients required admission to the ward for prolonged observation. The most common presenting signs were pain, local oedema, and swelling. Patients with a high severity score also had a significantly higher white blood cell count and an increase of INR, LDH, and CRP levels. No fatality was reported. Viper bite envenomation is a rare pediatric medical emergency in Italy but may sometimes be severe. A new pediatric severity score may be implemented in the screening of children with viper bites to favor a selective and prompt administration of antivenom.
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spelling pubmed-81708882021-06-03 Acute Exposure to European Viper Bite in Children: Advocating for a Pediatric Approach Marano, Marco Pisani, Mara Zampini, Giorgio Pontrelli, Giuseppe Roversi, Marco Toxins (Basel) Article Viper bite is an uncommon but serious cause of envenoming in Europe, especially in children. Our study aim is to better describe and analyze the clinical course and treatment of viper bite envenoming in a pediatric population. We retrospectively reviewed 24 cases of pediatric viper bites that were admitted to the Pediatric Emergency Department and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of the Bambino Gesù Children Hospital in Rome between 2000 and 2020. Epidemiological characteristics of the children, localization of the bite, clinical and laboratory findings, and treatment approaches were evaluated. The median age of the patients was 4.2 years, with male predominance. Most cases of viper bite occurred in the late summer. Most patients required admission to the ward for prolonged observation. The most common presenting signs were pain, local oedema, and swelling. Patients with a high severity score also had a significantly higher white blood cell count and an increase of INR, LDH, and CRP levels. No fatality was reported. Viper bite envenomation is a rare pediatric medical emergency in Italy but may sometimes be severe. A new pediatric severity score may be implemented in the screening of children with viper bites to favor a selective and prompt administration of antivenom. MDPI 2021-05-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8170888/ /pubmed/34063282 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins13050330 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Marano, Marco
Pisani, Mara
Zampini, Giorgio
Pontrelli, Giuseppe
Roversi, Marco
Acute Exposure to European Viper Bite in Children: Advocating for a Pediatric Approach
title Acute Exposure to European Viper Bite in Children: Advocating for a Pediatric Approach
title_full Acute Exposure to European Viper Bite in Children: Advocating for a Pediatric Approach
title_fullStr Acute Exposure to European Viper Bite in Children: Advocating for a Pediatric Approach
title_full_unstemmed Acute Exposure to European Viper Bite in Children: Advocating for a Pediatric Approach
title_short Acute Exposure to European Viper Bite in Children: Advocating for a Pediatric Approach
title_sort acute exposure to european viper bite in children: advocating for a pediatric approach
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8170888/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34063282
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins13050330
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