Non-specific therapy of a hemorrhagic diathesis after a bite by a young Bothrops asper (barba amarilla): a case...

Hemorrhagic diathesis developed 4 hr after a bite by one fang of a two-month-old specimen of Bothrops asper. Severe allergy to horse serum contraindicated the use of horse antivenom, and a substitution therapy was started 20 hr after the bite. During the following 4 days the patient was treated with infusions of 8 g human fibrinogen, 2500 U of cryoprecipitate, 1000 ml of human plasma and vitamin K in several portions. By means of plasmapheresis 1800 ml of plasma was exchanged. Until plasmapheresis on the third day the treatment resulted in short remission and diminution of the spontaneous bleeding, which ceased on the 5th day. Coagulation tests relevant to disseminated intravascular coagulation and consumption coagulopathy were performed for 12 days. Fibrinogen levels started to rise on the 8th day and normalized 12 days after the bite. Analysis of the venoms from juvenile and adult Bothrops asper snakes revealed that the former has a strong prothrombin-converting activity, the latter contained mainly a thrombin-like, fibrinogen-converting enzyme.