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Snake envenoming in pregnancy may cause fetal death and maternal mortality or morbidity. However, little is known about the toxic effects and optimal management of snake envenoming because of the rarity of cases. We report three cases in Taiwan in the past 15 years of pregnant women who were treated successfully after being bitten by Trimeresurus stejnegeri with local envenoming. Two of the three patients received treatment with equine-derived hemotoxic bivalent F(ab')2 antivenom without development of any adverse effects. All three women recovered uneventfully and subsequently had normal deliveries. Telephone follow-up of the three children 6–10 years later showed no developmental delay of the children.
Received March 31, 2007. Accepted for publication April 27, 2007.
* Address correspondence to Chun-I Huang, Department of Emergency Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201, Shih-Pai Road Section 2, Taipei 112, Taiwan, Republic of China. E-mail: cihuang{at}vghtpe.gov.tw
Authors addresses: Yen-Chia Chen, Lee-Min Wang, and Chun-I Huang, Department of Emergency Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Section 2, Shih-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan, Republic of China, Telephone: 886-2-2827-9582, Fax: 886-2-2873-8013, E-mails: ycchen4{at}gmail.com, lmwang{at}vghtpe.gov.tw, and cihuang{at}vghtpe.gov.tw. Min-Hui Chen, Center for Drug Evaluation, Taiwan, 1F, No. 15-1, Section 1, Hang-Jou Southern Road, Taipei, Taiwan 100, Republic of China, Telephone: 886-2-2322-4567, Fax: 886-2-2327-9135, E-mail: chen.minhui{at}gmail.com. Chen-Chang Yang, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Section 2, Shih-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan, Republic of China, Telephone: 886-2-2876-5725, Fax: 886-2-2873-9193, E-mail: ccyang{at}vghtpe.gov.tw. Yen-Wen Chen, Department of Respiratory Therapy, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Section 2, Shih-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan, Republic of China, Telephone: 886-2-9332-41960, E-mail: albert6369{at}gmail.com.pe.gov.tw
Reprint requests: Yen-Chia Chen, Department of Emergency Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Section 2, Shih-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan, Republic of China, Telephone: 886-2-2827-9582, Fax: 886-2-2873-8013, E-mail: ycchen4{at}gmail.com.
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