scholarly journals Venomous snakebite — Significance of the bite site and local reaction

Author(s):  
Ajith Venugopalan ◽  
Smrithi Vijaykumar ◽  
G. Sreekumar ◽  
Kripanadhi Karunanithi ◽  
Bharath Prasad ◽  
...  

Snakebite is an environmental and occupational hazard in India. Death and disabilities due to snakebite remains a major public health challenge. For the fight against this battle a greater investment should be focused on the preventive measures. This includes understanding of the common seasons of snake bites, location and also the site of snake bite. Understanding these will help in taking better preventive measures. This is a 6-year retrospective observational study of 70 venomous snake bite cases admitted to a tertiary care center in South India. Inclusion criteria has been all confirmed case of envenomation by venomous snake bite. Chi square test was done to find the association between categorical variables. The study sample size is 70. Mean age in our study is 34.66 ± 18.57 years. 57.1% were male. 79% snake bites occurred outdoor. 57.1 % patients had local reaction along with hemotoxic/neurotoxic symptoms. 28.5% patients had only local reaction. 84% bites occurred in lower limb. 43% bites occurred in the foot. Statistically borderline significant correlation between site of bite and local reaction alone (p=0.05). We could not find a statistically significant correlation between site of bite and local reaction with hemotoxic / neurotoxic symptoms (p=0.236). 59% snake bites occurred during Monsoon season this was followed by post monsoon season. Snakebite is a neglected tropical disease and remains as an underestimated cause of accidental death in modern India. Significance of bite site along with seasonal variations in snakebites helps in formation of effective preventive strategies, which along with prompt primary treatment holds the key in reducing the impact of venomous snakebite.

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-28
Author(s):  
V Dharma Rao ◽  
P Bickram ◽  
R P Ramyatha ◽  
N Sumalatha

Background: Snake-bite is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in tropical countries. In India, there are 216 species of snakes, of which only four (cobra, krait, Russell’s viper and saw scaled viper) are venomous. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the epidemiological profile, clinical features, complications and mortality rate of snake bite victims admitted in a tertiary care hospital in Andhra Pradesh, India. Methods: The study was conducted at Mamata General Hospital, khammam from June 2010 to May 2012. A total of 39 cases with history of snake bite were analysed. Results: Out of 39 cases, majority of the cases were observed in the age group 20-50 year (66%). High incidence of snake bite was observed in males 62%). The common victims were farmers and housewives. The bite was commonly encountered while walking bare foot (30%) followed by while sleeping (14%). Fifty Four percent of victim were bitten during outdoor and agriculture related activities. Maximum number of cases (54%) presented within 12 hour of snake bite and 66% cases had 1-5 days of hospital stay. Majority (82%) were bitten on the legs below knee. Localized oedema at the site of bite was present in 70% victim. Fang/teeth marks were noted in (41%) cases. There were 59% neurotoxic snake bites, 26% haemolytic, 5% mixed and 8% non-poisonous snake bites. Most of the cases developed cellulitis at the site of snake bite (21%), shock (12%), and acute kidney injury (8%). One tenth of the cases required assisted ventilation and overall mortality rate was 8%.Conclusion: Snakebites are still common in the rural population of India. There is need to educate the public about the preventive measures of snake bite, advantages of early hospital referral and treatment.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hren.v12i1.11981        Health Renaissance 2014;12(1):24-28


Author(s):  
Amritesh Kumar ◽  
Soumya Gopakumar ◽  
Sruthy Sathyan ◽  
S. Blessed Singh ◽  
Beena Idicheriya Bhasy

Background: Snake bite is considered as one of the most significant health related problems throughout the world. According to the WHO, a snake bite is an important medical problem. It has been a neglected extrinsic injury in tropical and sub-tropical developing countries including India. It has been estimated that every year there are almost 83,000 snake bites and 11,000 deaths due to snake bites in India. The Goal of this study is to access knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) among interns so as to find out gaps in academics and bridge them. Findings of this study will benefit community at large.Methods: An institutional based cross sectional study was conducted for the entire batch of interns in a tertiary care center in Trivandrum, Kerala, South India during June–September 2018. A non-probability sampling was done. Data was collected by self-administered questionnaire.Results: Among 100 students 48% had a score equal to and above 8 which was taken as good level of knowledge and 52% had poor level of knowledge. Attitude towards management of snake bite was 100% among study subjects. Only 35% of students had median score above 4 as good level of practice and remaining 65% had poor level of practice.Conclusions: Respondents have adequate knowledge on snake bites. They discarded various prevailing myths in society. Although study showed adequate attitude towards management, that was not reflected in practice. This gap can be overcome by teaching in simulated environment, so as to make them competent enough for managing snake bites. 


2017 ◽  
Vol 06 (02) ◽  
pp. 051-053
Author(s):  
Deepti Sharma ◽  
Garima Singh

Abstract Aim: Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer in women worldwide. They have more aggressive clinical behaviour with poor outcomes in younger patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of age on prognosis of breast cancer in women above and under 40 years of age. Material and Methods: Medical record of 415 patients with invasive breast cancer were analysed from January 2011 to December 2014 in our department.The last was done in December 2015.All cases diagnosed with breast cancer stages I to IV were evaluated, and grouped on the basis of age [less than 40 and above 40 years].Baseline categorical variables were analysed using the Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. Non categorical variable were analysed using t-test. Result: A total of 372 patients were reviewed because 42 patients defaulted. The median age at the time of diagnosis was 44.6 years (range 23 to 90 years).Metastasis to distant organs were more in women with age <40. Tumour relapse occurred in 131 cases, among which 84 cases died, 35 patients (26.31%) in less than 40 group vs.49 patients (20.50%) in above 40 groups. The estimated median OS in the two groups are 32 and 41 months respectively. Conclusion: The biological behaviour of breast cancer in younger age group has been shown to be associated with aggressive nature and has a worse clinical outcome as compared to that in older group.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s263-s264
Author(s):  
Jordan Polistico ◽  
Avnish Sandhu ◽  
Teena Chopra ◽  
Erin Goldman ◽  
Jennifer LeRose ◽  
...  

Background: Influenza causes a high burden of disease in the United States, with an estimate of 960,000 hospitalizations in the 2017–2018 flu season. Traditional flu diagnostic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests have a longer (24 hours or more) turnaround time that may lead to an increase in unnecessary inpatient admissions during peak influenza season. A new point-of-care rapid PCR assays, Xpert Flu, is an FDA-approved PCR test that has a significant decrease in turnaround time (2 hours). The present study sought to understand the impact of implementing a new Xpert Flu test on the rate of inpatient admissions. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to compare rates of inpatient admissions in patients tested with traditional flu PCR during the 2017–2018 flu season and the rapid flu PCR during the 2018–2019 flu season in a tertiary-care center in greater Detroit area. The center has 1 pediatric hospital (hospital A) and 3 adult hospitals (hospital B, C, D). Patients with influenza-like illness who presented to all 4 hospitals during 2 consecutive influenza seasons were analyzed. Results: In total, 20,923 patients were tested with either the rapid flu PCR or the traditional flu PCR. Among these, 14,124 patients (67.2%) were discharged from the emergency department and 6,844 (32.7%) were admitted. There was a significant decrease in inpatient admissions in the traditional flu PCR group compared to the rapid flu PCR group across all hospitals (49.56% vs 26.6% respectively; P < .001). As expected, a significant proportion of influenza testing was performed in the pediatric hospital, 10,513 (50.2%). A greater reduction (30% decrease in the rapid flu PCR group compared to the traditional flu PCR group) was observed in inpatient admissions in the pediatric hospital (Table 1) Conclusions: Rapid molecular influenza testing can significantly decrease inpatient admissions in a busy tertiary-care hospital, which can indirectly lead to improved patient quality with easy bed availability and less time spent in a private room with droplet precautions. Last but not the least, this testing method can certainly lead to lower healthcare costs.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None


2021 ◽  
pp. 263183182110323
Author(s):  
Aditya Prakash Sharma ◽  
Japleen Kaur ◽  
Ravimohan S. Mavuduru ◽  
Shrawan K. Singh

Sexual health-care seeking behavior and practices have been affected during COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 on this subspecialty is far reaching. This study aimed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on health-care seeking practice pertaining to sexual health in men in our tertiary care center and review the relevant literature regarding impact of COVID-19 on sexual health seeking practice and challenges faced. Outpatient data was analyzed from January 2019 to April 2021. Patients awaiting surgical procedures due to COVID were documented. A narrative synthesis of literature based on systematic search using the keywords sexual health, sexual health seeking, sexual health practice, andrology, and COVID with operators “AND” and “OR” was carried out in three search engines PubMed, Scopus, and Embase. The study outcomes were obtained by comparing data of outpatient attendance and compiling the reviewed literature. The mean attendance fell significantly from 95.11±11.17 to 17.25±13.70 persons (P <.0001) per outpatient clinic, March 2020 being the reference point. Teleconsultation has taken over physical consultation. In 98/949 cases, teleconsult could not be provided despite registration. Over 25 patients were waiting for surgical procedures pertaining to andrology due to shut down of elective services. Similar trends have been reported from other countries. Number of patients seeking consultation for sexual health problems has dramatically decreased during COVID-19 era. Establishment of data safe teleconsultation facility and its widespread advertisement is needed to encourage patients to seek consult.


2021 ◽  
pp. 105566562110056
Author(s):  
Connor Wagner ◽  
Carrie E. Zimmerman ◽  
Carlos Barrero ◽  
Christopher L. Kalmar ◽  
Paris Butler ◽  
...  

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a Cleft Nurse Navigator (CNN) program on care for patients with cleft lip and cleft palate and assess the programs efficacy to reduce existing socioeconomic disparities in care. Design: Retrospective review and outcomes analysis (n = 739). Setting: Academic tertiary care center. Patients: All patients presenting with cleft lip and/or cleft palate (CL/P) born between May 2009 and November 2019 with exclusions for atypical clefts, submucous cleft palates, international adoption, and very late presentation (after 250 days of life). Interventions: Multidisciplinary care coordination program facilitated by the CNN. Main Outcome Measures: Patient age at first outpatient appointment and age at surgery, reported feeding issues, weight gain, and patient-cleft team communications. Results: After CNN implementation, median age at outpatient appointment decreased from 20 to 16 days ( P = .021), volume of patient-cleft team communications increased from 1.5 to 2.8 ( P < .001), and frequency of reported feeding concerns decreased (50% to 35%; P < .001). In the pre-CNN cohort, nonwhite and publicly insured patients experienced delays in first outpatient appointment ( P < .001), cleft lip repair ( P < .011), and cleft palate repair ( P < .019) compared to white and privately insured patients, respectively. In the post-CNN cohort, there were no significant differences in first appointment timing by race nor surgical timing on the basis of racial identity nor insurance type. Conclusions: A variety of factors lead to delays in cleft care for marginalized patient populations. These findings suggest that a CNN can reduce disparities of access and communication and improve early feeding in at-risk cohorts.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamshed Ali ◽  
Osman Faheem ◽  
Pirbhat Shams ◽  
ghufran adnan ◽  
Maria Khan

Introduction: Social containment measures have been adopted globally to control COVID-19 outbreak. Reduction in hospital visits and inpatient admission rates have become cause for concern. Through this study we aimed to analyze the impact of SARS-CoV-2 virus Outbreak on cardiology inpatient admissions at a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan. Hypothesis: COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant decline in cardiology admissions. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study at our center. Admission log was accessed via electronic record system. Comparison was made for same months of 2019 and 2020 with regard to cardiology inpatient admissions. Results: A total of 239 patients were admitted to cardiology services in 2019 period and 106 in 2020 period with resultant reduction of 55.6%. Number of patients admitted to the coronary care unit were 179 and 78 respectively where as the numbers declined to 28 from 60 for cardiac step down. Reduction for admission numbered to 52.4% for males and 38.89% for females. 9.3% patients left against medical advice in 2019 and 3.4% in 2020. Conclusions: Our study concludes that numbers of cardiology admissions have dwindled. Possible explanation for this can be implementation of social containment and fear of acquiring infection. This has raised a question of whether a significant number of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality has occurred without seeking medical attention and has went unrecorded during the pandemic. This calls for stringent diagnostic measures in future to diagnose previously unrecorded burden.


Author(s):  
Ghamar Bitar ◽  
Anthony Sciscione

Objective Despite lack of evidence to support efficacy, activity restriction is one of the most commonly prescribed interventions used for the prevention of preterm birth. We have a departmental policy against the use of activity restriction but many practitioners still prescribe it in an effort to prevent preterm birth. We sought to evaluate the rate and compliance of women who are prescribed activity restriction during pregnancy to prevent preterm birth. Study Design This was a single-site retrospective questionnaire study at a tertiary care, academic affiliated medical center. Women with a history of preterm delivery or short cervix were included. Once patients were identified, each patient was contacted and administered a questionnaire. We assessed the rates of activity restriction prescription and compliance. Secondary outcomes included details regarding activity restriction and treatment in pregnancy. Continuous variables were compared with t-test and categorical variables with Chi-square test. The value p < 0.05 was considered significant. Results Among the 52 women who responded to the questionnaire, 18 reported being placed on activity restriction by a physician, with 1 self-prescribing activity restriction, giving a rate of our primary outcome of 19 of 52 (36.5%). All women reported compliance with prescribed activity restriction (100%). Gestational age at delivery was not different in women placed on activity restriction. Conclusion This questionnaire suggests that approximately one in three high-risk women were placed on activity restriction during their pregnancy despite a departmental policy against its use. The 100% compliance rate in patients placed on activity restriction is a strong reminder of the impact prescribing patterns of physicians can have on patients. Key Points


2020 ◽  
pp. 019459982095438
Author(s):  
Kathleen M. Sarber ◽  
Douglas C. von Allmen ◽  
Raisa Tikhtman ◽  
Javier Howard ◽  
Narong Simakajornboon ◽  
...  

Objective Mild obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), particularly in young children, is often treated with observation. However, there is little evidence regarding the outcomes with this approach. Our aim was to assess the impact of observation on sleep for children aged <3 years with mild OSA. Study Design Case-control study. Setting Pediatric tertiary care center. Methods We reviewed cases of children (<3 years old) diagnosed with mild OSA (obstructive apnea-hypopnea index, 1-5 events/h) who were treated with observation between 2012 and 2017 and had at least 2 polysomnograms performed 3 to 12 months apart. Demographic data and comorbid diagnoses were collected. Results Twenty-six children met inclusion criteria; their median age was 7.2 months (95% CI, 1.2-22.8). Nine (35%) were female and 24 (92%) were White. Their median body mass index percentile was 39 (95% CI, 1-76). Comorbidities included cardiac disease (42.3%), laryngomalacia (42.3%), allergies (34.6%), reactive airway disease (23.1%), and prematurity (7.7%). The obstructive apnea-hypopnea index significantly decreased from 2.7 events/h (95% CI, 1-4.5) to 1.3 (95% CI, 0-4.5; P = .013). There was no significant improvement in median saturation nadir (baseline, 86%; P = .76) or median time with end-tidal carbon dioxide >50 mm Hg (baseline, 0 minutes; P = .34). OSA resolved in 8 patients (31%) and worsened in 1 (3.8%). Only race was a significant predictor of resolution per regression analysis; however, only 2 non-White children were included. Conclusion In our cohort, resolution of mild OSA occurred in 31% of patients treated with 3 to 12 months of observation. The presence of laryngomalacia, asthma, and allergies did not affect resolution. Larger studies are needed to better identify factors (including race) associated with persistent OSA and optimal timing of intervention for these children. Level of Evidence 4.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 665-671
Author(s):  
Whitney R. Bender ◽  
Nathanael C. Koelper ◽  
Mary D. Sammel ◽  
Celeste Durnwald

Background: A woman’s prior breastfeeding history may influence future decisions regarding infant feeding. Few quantitative tools utilizing this information have been demonstrated to predict breastfeeding success. Research aim: To evaluate the efficacy of a prenatal breastfeeding history (BAP) questionnaire administered in prenatal care to predict in-hospital formula supplementation among multiparous women. Methods: This is a prospective observational study of multiparous women with singleton pregnancies who presented to a Baby-Friendly urban tertiary care center for 1st prenatal visit at < 20 weeks’ gestation. The BAP tool generates a numerical score, with higher score (≥ 2) indicating prior successful breastfeeding experiences. The primary outcome was occurrence of non-medically indicated formula supplementation during the postpartum hospital stay. Student’s t test and Pearson’s chi-square test were used to compare continuous and categorical variables. A multivariable logistic regression was performed to assess the relationship of BAP score to formula supplementation. Of 587 women screened, 433 (73.8%) mother–infant dyads were analyzed. Results: Rates of formula supplementation in women with BAP scores ≤ 1 were 67% (156/234) compared with 37% (73/199) in women with higher scores ( p < 0.0001). After controlling for race/ethnicity, insurance, and obesity, women with BAP scores of ≤ 1 were 2.6 times more likely to supplement formula than women with higher scores (a OR 2.62, 95% CI [1.70, 4.04], p < .0001). Conclusion: In this prospective validation study, women with negative prior breastfeeding experiences, as evidenced by a lower BAP score, were more likely to supplement formula during the postpartum hospital stay.


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