Premonitory signs and symptoms of envenoming by common krait (Bungarus caeruleus)

Abstract

Between January 2005 and August 2011 141 victims of krait bite poisoning were admitted to the general hospital at Mahad. Clinical signs and symptoms preceding the development of neuroparalysis were analyzed. Fifty-six percent of patients were male. A total of 140 victims reported between midnight and 05:00. Patients awoke in the night due to abdominal colic (85%) and chest pain (72%). Patients gave a history of vomiting (42%), sweating (17%) and excessive salivation (35%). On arrival at hospital, 78% cases had dysphasia with pooling of saliva, 89% had heaviness in both eyelids and ptosis; 12.5% of patients died on the way to hospital while 13.47% died during treatment. In total, 74.46% recovered, and of these 48% needed artificial ventilation. The sudden onset of abdominal colic and vomiting in a person sleeping on the floor without a mosquito net led to neuroparalysis due to krait bite poisoning.