Medically important snakes and snakebite envenoming in Iran

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  • Rouhullah Dehghani
    Kashan University of Medical Sciences
  • Seyed Mostafa Monzavi
    Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran
  • Omid Mehrpour
    Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran
  • Farshad M. Shirazi
    Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center, Tucson,
  • Hossein Hassanian-Moghaddam
    Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran
  • Daniel E. Keyler
    University of Minnesota
  • Wolfgang Wüster
  • Alexander Westerström
    National Museum of Natural History, Sofia
  • David A. Warrell
    Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford
Snakebite is a relatively common health condition in Iran with a diverse snake fauna, especially in tropical southern and mountainous western areas of the country with a plethora of snake species. The list of medically important snakes, circumstances and effects of their bite, and necessary medical care require critical appraisal and should be updated regularly. This study aims to review and map the distributions of medically important snake species of Iran, re-evaluate their taxonomy, review their venomics, describe the clinical effects of enve- noming, and discuss medical management and treatment, including the use of antivenom. Nearly 350 published articles and 26 textbooks with information on venomous and mildly venomous snake species and snakebites of Iran, were reviewed, many in Persian (Farsi) language, making them relatively inaccessible to an international readership. This has resulted in a revised updated list of Iran’s medically important snake species, with taxo- nomic revisions of some, compilation of their morphological features, remapping of their geographical distri- butions, and description of species-specific clinical effects of envenoming. Moreover, the antivenom manufactured in Iran is discussed, together with treatment protocols that have been developed for the hospital management of envenomed patients.

Keywords

  • Iran, Elapidae, Hydrophiini, Viperidae, Snakebites, Antivenoms
Original languageEnglish
Article number107149
Number of pages26
JournalToxicon
Volume230
Early online date13 May 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 May 2023

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