PETALING
JAYA: The Health Ministry has urged all
snake bite victims to seek help at the nearest emergency department or
healthcare centre even though Malaysia has more non-poisonous snakes than
poisonous ones.
"The
doctors working in the emergency department will decide to administer antivenom
according to the severity of the effect of the poison: the speed of its spread
or its systemic manifestations or effect to the limb," said the ministry's
director general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a blog post.
He said
that there had been a surge in the reporting of snake bites as a result of the
unusually hot weather conditions the country is facing now.
Nor
Hisham added that identification of the species of snake is crucial for doctors
to administer specific anti-venoms.
"On
most occasions, we are unable to identify the actual snake species that has
bitten a victim as it usually slithers away. Actual snake identification allows
the emergency doctors to administer specific anti-venom for the species,"
he said, adding that it is dangerous to capture snakes and it should be
avoided.
He said
that potentially dangerous snakes in Malaysia are the Malaysian Pit Viper, the
monocle cobra, the Shore Pit Viper, Waglers pit viper, banded krait, Malayan
krait, the coral banded snake and the King Cobra.
Noor
Hisham said symptoms in snake bite victims includes - pain, headaches, vomiting,
blurring of vision, and paralysis of the eyelids or the breathing muscles, loss
of consciousness, bruising, severe swelling, bleeding and muscle tissue
breakdown.
He said a
multidisciplinary and inter-ministerial team of experts formed by the ministry is
currently working to produce the MOH Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) for
Snake Bite which will likely be out later this year.
Noor
Hisham also said that victims and bystanders should call 999 immediately in
case of a snake bite.
Timothy
Achariam
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