Severe Coagulopathy after Ingestion of "Snake Wine".

BACKGROUND: This report describes a patient who developed coagulopathy after ingesting snake wine, which is an alcoholic libation containing an entire venomous snake. CASE REPORT: A 68-year-old man was admitted to the hospital 19 h after ingesting snake wine. The laboratory features upon admission included unmeasurable activated partial thromboplastin (aPTT) values, prolonged prothrombin time (PT) values, increased fibrinogen levels, modestly elevated fibrin degradation product and D-dimer values, uncorrected aPTT and PT values after a mixing test, and normal levels of aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase. No pesticides, warfarin, or superwarfarin in the patient's blood or urine were detected. His coagulation profile normalized on the 6(th) day after admission after antivenom treatment. He was discharged 10 days later without sequelae. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: The physician should be aware that ingesting snake wine may lead to systemic envenomation. As for coagulopathy, which may develop by ingesting snake venom, related laboratory findings may differ from the features observed after direct envenomation by snakebite.

Fever, urticaria, lymphadenopathy, and protracted arthralgia and myalgia resistant to corticosteroid therapy.

Allergen immunotherapy is commonly incorporated in the management of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, allergic asthma, and insect sting hypersensitivity. It is generally safe, but systemic reactions occasionally occur, mainly of the immediate type and rarely of the delayed type. We report a case of a 50-year-old man with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis on immunotherapy for 3 years and then received an injection from another patient's extract. The latter contained a higher concentration of house-dust mite and pollens of grasses, trees, and weeds. It also contained molds that the patient's correct extract did not have. Within half an hour, he developed a systemic reaction that resolved with symptomatic treatment. Two weeks later, he received one-half of his usual immunotherapy dose. Within a week, he developed urticaria, arthralgia, myalgia, fever, and lymphadenopathy. Laboratory abnormalities included leukocytosis, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, hematuria, and elevated liver enzymes. Oral corticosteroid therapy for 3 weeks was ineffective. He developed significant myalgia and apparent mood changes, attributable to corticosteroid intake. After a single plasmapheresis, he felt remarkable improvement within <24 hours. Corticosteroid therapy was gradually withdrawn over 10 weeks without relapse of symptoms. This is a rare case of probable serum sickness after the administration of a wrong allergy immunotherapy extract. However, a causal relationship could not be proven. The response was poor to prolonged corticosteroid therapy but was remarkable to one plasmapheresis.

Serum sickness in a patient with follicular lymphoma after rituximab and radioimmunotherapy with ibritumomab tiuxetan.

A previously healthy 47-year-old woman was treated for follicular lymphoma, grade III, with cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine, prednisone with rituximab (CHOP-R) followed by ibritumomab tiuxetan and rituximab. She developed a serum sickness-like illness during immunotherapy with fever, myalgias, arthralgias, and pleural and pericardial effusions. Despite anti-inflammatory therapies her symptoms persisted for 10 months before ultimate resolution. Her clinical course and literature are reviewed.

Safety profile of snake antivenom (use) in Hong Kong - a review of 191 cases from 2008 to 2015.

INTRODUCTION: The mainstay of treatment for significant envenoming from snakebites is antivenom. However, there is insufficient data regarding the safety of antivenom used in Hong Kong. We describe the incidence of hypersensitivity reactions from antivenom use and review the frequency and reasons for intensive care unit (ICU) admission. METHODS: The Hong Kong Poisons Information Centre database was reviewed. All patients given snake antivenom between 2008 and 2015 were included. Patient demographics, species of snake involved, details of antivenom used, treatment location, use of pre-treatment, reasons for ICU admission (where applicable) and details of early and late antivenom reactions were extracted. RESULTS: There were 191 patients who received snake antivenom. Most (93%) were treated with either the green pit viper antivenom from Thailand or the Agkistrodon halys antivenom from China. The incidences of early hypersensitivity reactions to green pit viper antivenom and Agkistrodon Halys antivenom were 4.7% and 1.4%, respectively. Most patients (69%) were managed in the ED observation ward or general ward. There were 59 patients managed in ICU, most (90%) of whom were admitted for close monitoring during antivenom administration. There were no cases of significant morbidity from antivenom administration. Eight patients (5.6%) had features suggestive of mild serum sickness. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of immediate hypersensitivity reaction to antivenom commonly used in Hong Kong is low. Majority of patients were managed safely in the emergency department observation ward or general ward. Serum sickness appears to be uncommon and possible cases presented with mild features.

Severe serum sickness reaction to oral and intramuscular penicillin.

Serum sickness is a type III hypersensitivity reaction mediated by immune complex deposition with subsequent complement activation, small-vessel vasculitis, and tissue inflammation. Although the overall incidence of serum sickness is declining because of decreased use of heterologous sera and improved vaccinations, rare sporadic cases of serum sickness from nonprotein drugs such as penicillins continue to occur. Drug-induced serum sickness is usually self-limited, with symptoms lasting only 1-2 weeks before resolving. We report an unusual case of a severe and prolonged serum sickness reaction that occurred after exposure to an intramuscular penicillin depot injection (probable relationship by Naranjo score) and discuss how pharmacokinetics may have played a role. Clinicians should be familiar with serum sickness reactions particularly as they relate to long-acting penicillin preparations. Accurate diagnosis in conjunction with cessation of drug exposure and prompt initiation of antiinflammatory treatment with corticosteroids can produce complete recovery

Polyclonal antibody-induced serum sickness in renal transplant recipients: treatment with therapeutic plasma exchange.

Serum sickness is an immune-complex mediated illness that frequently occurs in patients after polyclonal antibody therapy (ATGAM or thymoglobulin). Serum sickness presents with significant morbidity but is self-limited and resolves with prolonged steroid therapy. We present five renal transplant patients who developed serum sickness after polyclonal antibody treatment with severe symptoms that persisted after being started on systemic steroids. These patients underwent one or two courses of therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) with subsequent complete resolution of their symptoms. Renal transplant recipients with serum sickness after polyclonal antibody therapy may benefit from TPE by accelerating their time to recovery and thereby reducing overall morbidity.

Rivaroxaban-induced serum sickness after total knee arthroplasty.

PURPOSE: A case of serum sickness or serum sicknesslike reaction (SSLR) in a patient receiving rivaroxaban for venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis after undergoing elective right total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is reported. SUMMARY: A 61-year-old man arrived at the emergency department from a short-term rehabilitation facility 12 days after a right TKA with complaints of fever, chills, bilateral forearm pain, swelling in the extremities, and a diffuse erythematous rash with welts on his back. Rivaroxaban was initiated on postoperative day 1 for VTE prophylaxis and was discontinued on day 10 of therapy, when symptoms began to appear. His renal function was within normal limits; however, his alanine transaminase level was twice the upper limit of normal. The patient was admitted to the inpatient medical service and placed on intravenous fluids, subcutaneous heparin for VTE prophylaxis, supportive therapy for his symptoms, and his home medications. After 2 days of observation, the rheumatology and immunology services were consulted to assess the patient. Due to the patient's fever, myalgias, mild transaminitis, diffuse erythematous rash, and depressed total serum complement, it was determined that the patient had serum sickness secondary to treatment with rivaroxaban. The patient did not require any acute interventions, and symptoms resolved after 4 days of hospitalization. CONCLUSION: A 61-year-old man developed a possible case of serum sickness or SSLR 10 days after initiation of rivaroxaban for VTE prophylaxis after an elective TKA. Symptomatic improvement was observed after discontinuation of rivaroxaban, and no acute interventions were needed.

A study of human serum sickness.

Twelve patients with bone marrow failure, who were undergoing therapy with daily intravenous infusions of horse antithymocyte globulin, were studied for the development of serum sickness. Eleven of 12 patients developed typical signs and symptoms of serum sickness 8-13 days after the initiation of treatment. These included fever, malaise, cutaneous eruptions, arthralgias, gastrointestinal disturbances, and lymphadenopathy. Eleven of 12 patients developed high levels of circulating immune complexes during serum sickness. All 12 patients also had concomitant decreases of serum C3 and C4 levels. In addition to urticarial and/or morbilliform eruptions, 8 of 11 patients also developed a serpiginous band of erythema along the sides of the fingers, hands, toes, or feet as an early cutaneous sign of serum sickness. Direct immunofluorescence of lesional skin biopsies during serum sickness revealed deposits of immunoglobulin or complement in the walls of small cutaneous blood vessels in 3 of 5 patients. These findings indicate that circulating immune complexes play a central role in the pathophysiology of human sickness.

Treatment of acute serum sickness by plasma ultrafiltration.

The clinical value of a scaled-down prototype of an extracorporeal plasma ultrafiltration system for the treatment of acute serum sickness in rabbits was examined. The system uses two filters: the primary separates red cells from plasma, and the secondary filter excludes high molecular weight proteins from plasma. In vitro and in vivo experiments showed that the secondary filters rejected substantially more IgM (80-90%) than IgG (10-30%) or albumin (10%) and totally rejected immune complexes (IC) prepared in vitro. Two groups of rabbits were submitted to either sham filtration with the primary filter only (n = 5), receiving back the remixed components of their blood, or to the complete ultrafiltration protocol (n = 7), with removal of high molecular weight proteins and IC. Several parameters were studied longitudinally, such as circulating IC, which appeared to rise more slowly in animals whose blood was ultrafiltered, and total proteinuria, which appeared to remain at lower levels in the same animals. Histologic examination of the kidneys, collected after killing, showed evidence of glomerular IC deposition in three of five sham-treated animals (a similar frequency to that observed in a separate group of five rabbits with acute serum sickness), while one of six treated animals had evidence of glomerular deposition of IC. These observations are tentative because of the small number of animals in each group, but are encouraging. Further studies with larger groups of animals are needed to determine whether the observed effects are reproducible and to better characterize the factors directly related to the removal of circulating IC.

[Role of hyperbaric oxygenation in mechanisms correcting the immunological reactivity in endotoxic shock and serum sickness]. / Rol' giperbaricheskoi oksigenatsii v mekhanizmakh korrektsii immunologicheskoi reaktivnosti organizma pri éndotoksinovom shoke i syvorotochnoi bolezni.

The adaptation effect of hyperbaric oxygenation (3.0 Ata for 60 min) on white rats and mice with acute serum sickness is due to stimulation of non-pathogenic circulating immune complexes which do not fix the complement nor induce immune injuries to the kidneys. This promotes recovery of nephron ultrafiltration and decreases proteinuria. Hyperbaric oxygenation stimulates immunity in endotoxin shock by activating the humoral immunity and specific immune response.

Desensitization protocol for rituximab-induced serum sickness.

Rituximab, a chimeric anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, is used to treat rheumatologic and hematologic diseases. Serum sickness, a Type III delayed hypersensitivity reaction, has been reported with rituximab treatment. Traditionally, drug desensitization has been used to treat Type I IgE-mediated hypersensitivity reactions. We report the first case of successful drug desensitization to rituximab in a patient with medication-induced serum sickness. In our case, a 37-year-old woman with Sjogren's syndrome and papillary thyroid carcinoma developed serum sickness 72 hours following rituximab infusion for gastric mucosal associated lymphoma tissue (MALT). Her MALT progressed after stopping rituximab. She underwent a rapid 12-step intravenous rituximab desensitization without recurrence of serum sickness. Following the completion of 4 rituximab desensitizations, she had gastric MALT remission. She received 25 maintenance rituximab doses using this desensitization protocol quarterly without complications. This is the first report documenting rituximab desensitization for the treatment of delayed drug reactions like serum sickness.

Cutaneous reactions to drugs in children.

Cutaneous eruptions are a commonly reported adverse drug reaction. Cutaneous adverse drug reactions in the pediatric population have a significant impact on patients' current and future care options. A patient's recollection of having a "rash" when they took a medication as a child is a frequent reason for not prescribing a particular treatment. The quick detection and treatment of cutaneous adverse drug reactions, plus identification of the causative agent, are essential for preventing the progression of the reaction, preventing additional exposures, and ensuring the appropriate use of medications for both the current condition and others as the patient ages. The purpose of this review is to discuss a reasonable approach to recognition and initial management of cutaneous adverse drug reactions in children.

Minocycline-induced serum sickness.

Minocycline, a semisynthetic derivative of tetracycline, has become a commonly prescribed medication for the treatment of persistent acne. It has been associated with a variety of adverse reactions, including one published case of serum sickness. We describe two additional cases of serum sickness reactions due to minocycline, characterized by erythematous rash, arthropathy, and in one case, angioedema. Both patients recovered fully after treatment with an antihistamine in combination with a brief course of corticosteroids. Although these represent only the second and third cases in the literature of minocycline-induced serum sickness, it may be reported more frequently in the future with the increased use of minocycline.

Late-onset allergic reactions, including serum sickness, after insect stings.

Allergic reactions after insect stings may have a delayed onset, differing from the usual immediate anaphylactic pattern. Ten patients, aged 6 to 78 years, had allergic reactions 1 to 2 weeks after an insect sting. Six patients had had multiple stings preceding the reaction. In two instances, immediate anaphylaxis also occurred. Four of the 10 patients had serum sickness-type reactions; two other patients had more severe anaphylactic symptoms, including throat edema. All patients in this group had venom-specific IgE; four of the 10 patients had serum venom-specific IgG. Eight patients subsequently received venom immunotherapy (VIT). There have been no reactions from seven re-stings. Five patients had generalized hives starting 6 to 24 hours after an insect sting. All patients in this group had venom-specific IgE; three patients have received VIT. Two other patients developed hives, one with throat edema 3 days after an insect sting. Both patients had high titers of serum venom-specific IgE; neither patient has received VIT, one patient because of extreme sensitivity. These observations suggest that after an insect sting, patients may develop delayed-onset allergic symptoms that range from typical anaphylaxis to serum sickness and are mediated by venom-specific IgE. VIT is recommended for patients with these reactions.