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CAPE ARGUS (Cape Town, S Africa) 20 May 03 Slow recovery for young snake bite victims (Genevieve Serra)
Two girls bitten by snakes in the Western Cape last month are struggling to recover.
And the mother of 10-year-old Ronele Viljoen of Brandway, near Mossel Bay, has explained how she miraculously recovered after doctors had given up hope that she would live.
Two-year-old Robin Bruce of Strand was bitten by a berg adder on Good Friday and 10-year-old Ronele Viljoen of Brandway, about 25km from Mossel Bay, was bitten twice by a puff adder on April 24.
Robin was discharged from Vergelegen medi-clinic in Somerset West about 10 days ago but had to be kept on a drip for the first week after being discharged.
Robin was still suffering from a lack of smell and taste
She was bitten while on holiday with her parents, Chris and Henesia, in Pringle Bay.
Dr Peter White, the Vergelegen medi-cross paediatrician who treated Robin, said a berg adder bite leaves only two small puncture marks on the skin, whereas a bite from a puff adder produces swelling.
White said the berg adder's venom affected the senses of smell and taste.
The muscles in the body are also paralysed for a while.
White said that Robin was still suffering from a lack of smell and taste and the muscles in her eyes were paralysed.
When Robin returned to Vergelegen medi-clinic just weeks ago, she had no muscle movement and stayed paralysed for five days.
"Her sense of smell and taste will return in a few months," said White.
Bruce said that he and his wife Henesia were overjoyed that their daughter is slowly recovering: "She is still struggling to eat and is drinking formula from a bottle. She is unable to walk and is crawling."
Ten-year-old Ronele was bitten twice by a puff adder when she visited family friends with her mother and 15-year-old brother in Hartenbos, near Mossel Bay.
The Grade 4 pupil at Hartenbos Primary was playing outside near the Hartenbos River when she was bitten twice.
She managed to walk to the house and told her mother Esta that she had been "touched" by a puff adder.
She had recognised it as a puff adder because she had grown up on a farm and had become familiar with snakes.
Mrs Viljoen contacted her husband Poena and they rushed their daughter to the Bayview hospital in Mossel Bay.
Ronele was given morphine to still the pain in her right thigh. Her leg also started to swell.
Paediatrician Henrich Sandilands and surgeon Dr Hugo Prins attended to her.
Her right leg was operated on by Prins, who made incisions in her leg for the oxygen in her blood to reach the main arteries in her leg.
She was then taken to the intensive care unit.
Hours later, the doctors told the Viljoen family that there was nothing more that they could do for her.
Her heartbeat was nearly non-existent and the Viljoen family stood at her bedside and said prayers for her. Sandilands and Prins also remained at her side.
But, after a couple of hours, her blood pressure slowly started to increase.
She remained in ICU for 20 days but was later transferred to the children's ward.
On Friday she returned home but she is still not able to walk and the muscles in her hands are paralysed, but her family is confident that she will recover fully.
"We are thankful to God," said Poena.
Slow recovery for young snake bite victims

>>Ronele was given morphine to still the pain in her right thigh. Her leg also started to swell.
>>Paediatrician Henrich Sandilands and surgeon Dr Hugo Prins attended to her.
>>Her right leg was operated on by Prins, who made incisions in her leg for the oxygen in her blood to reach the main arteries in her leg.
>>She was then taken to the intensive care unit.
>>Hours later, the doctors told the Viljoen family that there was nothing more that they could do for her.
[...]
>>On Friday she returned home but she is still not able to walk and the muscles in her hands are paralysed, but her family is confident that she will recover fully.
>>"We are thankful to God," said Poena.

Hmmm... fasciotomy but no antivenom for a puff adder bite with life-threatening envenoming? If this report is complete and accurate (and yes, knowing the media, it probably isn't), then the parents should stop thanking god and find a good lawyer instead.

Cheers,

Wolfgang
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