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A 22-year-old woman was bitten on the third finger of her left hand by a Walterinnesia aegyptia (desert black cobra). Local signs included a marked swelling of the entire hand with pain along the left upper limb. Systemic reactions were irritability, fever, tachycardia, ventricular premature beats, nausea and high blood leukocytes count. About 15 h post-envenomation the patient had no symptoms except for a mild swelling of the hand. Despite the severe toxic venom composition of the W. aegyptia, the clinical course of our patient was relatively benign. This could be explained by the snake’s behavior and the mechanism by which the venom penetrates the body.

A survey of the literature revealed only a few clinical cases reported. Most of the information concerning W. aegyptia was collected from laboratory and animal studies. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.