Woman bitten by snake in Thailand gets antivenin from the Toronto Zoo

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Woman bitten by snake in Thailand gets antivenin from the Toronto Zoo

Alexandra Mae Jones, CTVNews.ca

 

Malayan pit viper - image - Wiki Commons

 

The Toronto Zoo says a woman it helped after she was bitten by a snake in Thailand is expected to make a full recovery.

 

Shalaba Kalliath was bitten by a Malayan pit viper when she was vacationing in Thailand, the zoo said in a news release. Although she was treated for the wound in Thailand, she began experiencing symptoms again once she arrived home in Ontario. She was admitted to the Grand River Hospital in Kitchener, and the Ontario Poison Centre immediately notified the Toronto Zoo.

 

The Toronto Zoo is home to numerous venomous snakes, and maintains its own stock of antivenin for the safety of staff. It is one of only a few Canadian zoos to store antivenin onsite, according to the news release.

 

Six vials of antivenin were sent to Kitchener at once to aid in Kalliath’s recovery, “due to the time sensitive nature of the situation,” said Dr. Andrew Lentini, the zoo’s senior director of wildlife care and science.

 

Zoo staff then looked for more locations that could provide antivenin specific to a Malayan pit viper bite.

 

Full story: https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/woman-bitten-by-snake-in-thailand-gets-antivenin-from-the-toronto-zoo-1.4482168

 

-- ctvnews.ca

 

 

[keith101]

Was she just treated for the wound here and not given the correct dosage of anti venom or had it been diluted to make more doses ?

[cardinalblue]

The article doesn't explain what treatment she did or didn’t get....

 

obviously it was ineffective or communication break down in proper follow up...

[nauseus]

Nasty little critters. Glad she's OK. Maybe she only went to a clinic here?? 

[Cats4ever]

I remember a sign in a hostel in the Cameron Highlands in Malaya in the early 70's - "Beware of Pit Vipers, when they are out of their pits".

[attrayant]

2 hours ago, nauseus said:

Nasty little critters. Glad she's OK. Maybe she only went to a clinic here?? 

 

She should be glad this didn't happen in the USA. This is the bill for an emergency room visit due to rattlesnake bite:

 

 

 

[nauseus]

2 hours ago, attrayant said:

 

She should be glad this didn't happen in the USA. This is the bill for an emergency room visit due to rattlesnake bite:

 

 

 

I saw that story. Crazy and criminal. 

[Rimmer]

Troll post and reply removed

[tabarin]

No joke but I drove over exactly the same kind of snake just last weekend when on the way home at night. 
I checked if it was still alive and as it looked back at me angry, I continued fast.

[unblocktheplanet]

I happen to have been bitten by one of these beauties. The practice is to monitor one's BP for three consecutive days. The antivenin, esp for a first bite, is far more likely to have complications than the venom itself.