A rare complication of viper envenomation: cardiac failure. A case report

Viper envenomation is common in North Africa. Cardiac complications are not common features of snakebites, the clinical picture of which is usually dominated by toxin-associated neurological, hematological, and vascular damage. There are rare reports of acute myocardial infarction and/or ischemia caused by snakebites, while myocarditis after envenomation has not yet been reported, to our knowledge. We report the case of a 43-year-old woman admitted to our intensive care unit after viper envenomation complicated by acute heart failure with acute pulmonary edema, in a state of cardiogenic shock, accompanied by multi-organ failure, intravascular disseminated coagulation, and neurological damage. Some of the mechanisms that may be involved in this heart failure are discussed, including the possibility of acute myocarditis.