Detection of snake venom in equine urine and plasma:validation of a commercially available snake venomdetection kit in horses

摘要

There is a paucity of published literatureon the effect of snakebite by venomouselapid snakes in horses in Australia. Thismay reflect the difficulty of confirmingenvenomation in this species. Ownersrarely witness the horse being bitten.There are no detailed accounts ofclinical signs or laboratory parametersin envenomated horses to assistveterinarians diagnose snakebite inhorses. Experimental studies performedby Kellaway, eighty years ago, providevery brief clinical descriptions andnecropsy reports of one to three horsesinjected with five Australian snakevenoms (Kellaway 1929a; Kellaway1929b; Kellaway 1929c; Kellaway 1930;Kellaway 1931). Although subcutaneousinjection of black snake venom at a dosewell above the average venom yield hadvery little effect on the one horse, thevenoms of copper head, death adder,tiger and brown snakes were all rapidlyfatal when injected subcutaneously atdoses approximating average venomyields or less.