Treatment outcome of 294 hospitalized victims of snakebite injuries in Eastern Ecuador are reported, documenting high rates of morbidity and mortality.
One or more major complications occurred in 25% of patients. Complications included blood loss severe enough to require transfusion (29 patients), abscess (26 patients), intracranial hemorrhage (15 patients) and major tissue loss (10 patients).
Sixteen patients died, yielding a mortality rate of 5.4%. Death resulted from intracranial hemorrhage in 12 patients and from sequelae of hypovolemic shock in 4 patients.