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Venomous collubrids in Sri Lanka
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by Shawnasbro on March 2, 2002
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I hope someone may be able to help me, I've been trying to get an answer to this for the better part of 19 years. In 1983 I lost my 3 year old sister to what the autopsy report said was the venom from a snake of the collubrid variety. My father had been working overseas in Sri Lanka and decided to have the family join him from California. I did not go, as he was divorced from my mother and my sister was from his new marriage. The day after they arrived, Shawna was playing outside for approx. 15 minutes when she returned complaining of a bee sting. My father cleaned the wound on her toe and put her shoe back on, then took the family shopping. About an hour later (according to my folks) she mentioned she was sleepy and complained of a buzzing in her ears and a soar throat. They asked her to stay awake and were scared when she put her hands under her eyes and tried to force them to stay open. They took her to the makeshift hospital, and to make a long story short, she died before the doctor could start to check her.
I relate this story only to give a general time frame in which the venom took effect. I can also say that at the funeral I noticed that the tips of her fingers were purple, apparantly from blood vessels that had burst.
Out of everything that I have read about venomous snakes in Sri Lanka none mention collubrids as being poisonous. I do, however, remember reading about collubrids whose bites are virtually harmless to adults but have an entirely different effect on children, but I couldn't determine if this was true for any of the collubrids in Sri Lanka.
Any help would be appreciated.
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RE: Venomous collubrids in Sri Lanka
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by Naja_oxiana on March 2, 2002
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I believe that there are a couple Boiga species in Sri Lanka. I once read a book, which had a chapter suggesting that due to similarity in venoms, B. irregularis envenomations might well be confused for Bungarus envenomations where their ranges overlap--including, iirc, Sri Lanka.
This is probably more a q for Bryan. But I hope that this little insight helps onnetheless.
Do you know what your little sister might have been playing near? (foliage wise?) What about the time of day? There are a number of factors which, if known, would better make a possible identification of the venom.
That being said, yes there are a number of snakes who's bites are not clinically signifigant in adults but could cause death or serious injury in a small child. Again, we'd need to know a little more.
Cheers
Roger
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RE: Venomous collubrids in Sri Lanka
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by Shawnasbro on March 3, 2002
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Roger,
Thank you for your reply. It helps to know that there might actually be a collubrid in Sri Lanka that was capable of causing her death. As far as the area and time of day I believe she was playing in an open area around late morning to early noon.
Since I'm no expert on toxins I was hoping you might also put my mind at ease if you could tell me that the venom from that type of collubrid would cause the type of death I described, which, I believe, was to attack the central nervous system.
Thanks again,
Gary
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RE: Venomous collubrids in Sri Lanka
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by Naja_oxiana on March 3, 2002
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A lot of the symptoms that you describe are consistant with a neurotoxic envenomation. The thing is that colubrid venoms are so varied which stems from the fact that the rear-fanged condition occuring so many separate times in evolution. The mechanics of all of this are what I'm wondering about.
A rear-fanged colubrid has venom ducts that open at the base of the fang. They must use the fang to puncture the skin and leak the venom into you by chewing. Now, granted, they don't always need to leak much into you. But I should think that your sister would have noticed a snake chewing on her.
Again, I doubt that we could be too specific as so much time has elapsed. Saddly, had your sister been ten years older, she might have gotte off with just a headache. Drop me an email and I'll try to point you in a few directions that might be able to aid you a little bit better.
Cheers
Roger
Naja_oxiana@yahoo.com
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RE: Venomous collubrids in Sri Lanka
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by BGF on March 4, 2002
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I'd be quite curious as to why colubrid venom was singled out rather than elapid? Stastistically speaking its a lot more likely that it was an elapid and I would be rather surprised if the doctors were anything approaching experts. There have been no dangerous colubrids reported from the region and Boiga envenomations in children have been the result of prolonged chewing (45 minutes or more). If the doctors were basing it upon lack of defined fang marks, thats a fallacy. many elapid envenomations leave multiple scratches rather than a pair of obvious puncture wounds.
In my opinion its far more likely that it was a cobra or krait bite.
Cheers
BGF
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RE: Venomous collubrids in Sri Lanka
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by Shawnasbro on March 4, 2002
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The one thing that I forgot to mention in my original post was that my father did see one puncture wound and the autopsy stated that there were two. Nobody is quite sure if she was wearing her shoe at the time because my step-sister, who was only 8 years old, said that she had taken Shawna's shoe off at some point to clean some glass out. Earlier that morning as they were headed to the property, the driver who was taking them had passed too closely to an oncoming vehicle and their mirror had been shattered, sending small fragments through the open window. So my step-sister was under the impression that shawna had been cut on a piece of glass, which is why my father hadn't thought too much about the puncture wound and just cleaned it and put her shoe back on. As you can see, there were a lot of circumstances that hid what had actually happened, not the least of which was the fact that Shawna never claimed to have seen what bit her.
Myself, I just figured that the doctor who performed the autopsy had done some kind of toxicology report and concluded that the venom was that of a colubrid. The more I learn here, the more I have my doubts.
Thanks again,
Gary
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RE: Venomous colubrids in Sri Lanka
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by CAISSACA on March 5, 2002
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Hi,
First of all, my profound sympathies at your loss. As a lover of venomous snakes, I am always acuetly aware of all the misery they cause to people who come into contact with them unwittingly, particularly in the developing world.
I strongly doubt that a colubrid would have caused the death of your sister, and I would be very interested to know what led to that diagnosis.
There are no clearly documented cases of severe colubrid bites in Sri Lanka. There has been speculation that Boiga forsteni may have been responsible for fatal bites, but this is unconfirmed. Moreover, where species of Boiga have caused serious bites, this occured after prolonged chewing, in newborn infants in houses at night. A three-year-old would have been aware of being chewed on by a fairly large snake like B. forsteni. Unless there is clear unequivocal evidence of a colubrid bite, either in the shape of immunodiagnosis (not available in Sri Lanka in the 1980s, or even now, except in some clinical research projects), or in the shape of the dead snake caught in flagranti (which does not appear to be the case), then I would discount that hypothesis as extremely improbable and unsupported by evidence.
The 3 possible culprits in this case are the Indian cobra (Naja naja), a krait (Bungarus ceylonicus or B. caeruleus, depending on where the bite happened - B. caeruleus is found in the drier lowlands, B. ceylonicus in the humid SW quarter of the island), or Russell's viper (Daboia russelii).
Krait bites typically happen at night, when the snakes enter houses and bite people sleeping on the ground if they move while the snake is nearby. Daytime bites are almost unheard of. Krait bites are typically painless and symptom-free at the site of the bite itself, sometimes for a period of up to several hours, followed by the onset of neurotoxic symptoms, such as inability to keep the eyes open and later respiratory paralysis.
Cobra bites can happen at any time, and typically result in substantial local pain and swelling, followed by neurotoxic symptoms which can be of slow or rapid onset.
Sri Lankan Russell's viper bites can again happen anywhere and anytime, and include early severe pain, as well as neurotoxic symptoms. However, rapid death from neurotoxic envenoming is unlikely
Basically, if your sister showed very little swelling and only mild transient pain after the bite, then the likely culprit is a Bungarus; if she was in substantial pain and had more extensive local swelling (more than a bee sting), then a cobra or a Russell's viper would be a more likely culprit.
I hope this is of some help - if you can provide further info on the symptoms sufferd by your sister, then we might be able to arrive at more definite conclusions.
Best regards,
Wolfgang Wuster
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RE: Venomous colubrids in Sri Lanka
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by Shawnasbro on March 5, 2002
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Wolfgang,
Thank you for your reply. And to all of you who have offered your expertise, I don't know how I can ever thank you.
I have never been comfortable with the autopsy report's findings and neither have my parents. After reading all of your posts and discussing the information with my father, I am fairly convinced that she was bitten by a Krait, probably B. caeruleus, based on the location (Polonarua, SE part of the Island).
The only question that remains is if there is any chance that this could have been the result of anything other than a snake, like a scorpion, perhaps. But since it seems highly unlikely that it could have been anything other than a snake that is where my assumptions lie. For whatever reason, I feel I need to know what it was that caused me to lose my sister, even after almost 19 years. You have all given me enough information that I feel I have my answer, and for that I am eternally grateful.
My sincerest thanks,
Gary
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RE: Venomous colubrids in Sri Lanka
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by BGF on March 6, 2002
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In case I didn't express it clearly earlier, you have my deepest sympathies.
All the best
Bryan
---------------------------------
Bryan Grieg Fry, Ph.D.
www.venomdoc.com
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RE: Venomous colubrids in Sri Lanka
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by CAISSACA on March 6, 2002
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Hi Gary,
It is very unlikely that your sister was stung by a scorpion - scorpion stings are intensely painful, and there would not have been what appears to be a largely symptom-free latent period between the sting and the onset of neurotoxicity. Bungarus caeruleus does indeed appear to be the main suspect.
Again, my deepest sympathies go out to you and your family.
Wolfgang
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