Venomous snakes in Korea are Agkistrodon saxatilis, Agkistrodon lomhoffii brevicaudus and Agkistrodon calaginosus and they are belong to Crotalidae species.
In animal studies, rats were bitten on "the face by Agkistrodon blomhoffii and. AgkistrodoxL calaginosus, and the mortality rates were 55.6% and 25% respectively. Massive edema and bleeding from bite wound were noted.
Rabbits administrated venom intravenously into the ear vein developed shock and flaccid paralysis within 3 minutes and conjunctival hemorrhage and hematuria within 15 minutes. Hemorrhage in. lung, heart, stomach, intestine and ovary were confirmed by microscopic examination.
In envenominated rabbits SGOT, SGPT, alkaline phosphatase, blood sugar, bilirubin and thymol. turbidity were increased markedly. Amylase was unchanged. Total protein and albumin were decreased.
These data suggest that poisoning from Korean venomous snake bites may be partially caused by the enzymatic components of the venom acting in concert with the hematoxin, neurotoxin and cytolysin.
Bacteriological studies from venomous snake mouth swab were separated the pathogenic organisms; staphylococcus aureus, pseudomonas, proteus, E. coli, bacillus subtilis and clostridia group. It is necessary to administer the antibiotics and tetanus antitoxin in the treatment of snake bite.
Isoelectric focusing resulted 45~50 fractionations of protein components from venom and 35~44 fractionations from snake serum. The concentration of protein components of venom is higher than that of snake serum.
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