Blood transfusions save the life of Sopot man bitten by rare deadly snake

A 50-year-old Sopot man whose son, a biologist, left him to look after his collection of snakes, has survived being bitten by one of them, a rare viper. Janusz S. was bitten by the white-lipped pit viper as he was feeding it with mice. His hand and part of his chest and back became swollen within minutes. He was eventually sent to the Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine (IMMiT) in Gdynia. "We started browsing through the literature in search of an antidote," said Tomasz Kryger from the IMMiT. "I've been working at the institute for seven years and I'd never heard of someone being bitten by this kind of snake. Treatment was very complicated as we didn't have the right serum. It turned out there was none available in the whole of Europe." Janusz S's life was saved by a series of blood transfusions. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 11) A.Z.