Snakebite envenoming in children: A neglected tropical disease in a Costa Rican pediatric tertiary care center

Introduced in June 2017 by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a Neglected Tropical Diseases, snakebite envenoming is a global health problem. In Costa Rica, an incidence of 15 per 100,000 inhabitants and a mortality rate of 0.15 per 100,000 inhabitants per year were reported from 2005-2012. Children are also affected and prone to complications.

Retrospective descriptive 14-year study of children with envenomings by Viperidae snakebites managed at the tertiary pediatric hospital in Costa Rica.

80 patients (pts) were included and classified as having mild (17 pts, 29.3%), moderate (58 pts, 72.5%) or severe (5 pts, 6.2%) envenoming. 52/80 (65%) patients received treatment within the first four hours, three (3.75%) between 5-8 h, three between 9-12 h, four (4%) between 13-16 h, two (2.5%) between 17-20 h, and seven (8.75%) after 20 h. Edema was documented in 76/80 (95%), pain in 58 (72.5%), local bleeding in 23 (28.8%), emesis in 10 (12.5%), bullae formation in 8 (10%), and tissue necrosis in three (3.8%) pts. Complications presented according with degree of envenoming, being more common in severe cases: wound infection occurred in 14/58 (24.1%) with moderate envenoming and 5/5 pts with severe envenoming (p < 0.0001), bleeding presented in 3/58 (5.2%) with moderate cases, and 2/5 (40%) in pts with severe envenoming (p = 0.004); and compartmental syndrome occurred in 3/17 (17.6%) pts with mild envenoming, in 33/58 (56.9%), and 5/5 of moderate and severe envenomed pts, respectively (p = 0.0014). Sequelae were documented 25/80 (31%).