The above patient was bitten by a snake and developed paralysis. When she came to the hospital she could hardly breath. She was put on a ventilator and after 2 days began to improve. We hope she will now do well.

Snake bites:

About 15,000 people die of snakebite poisoning each year in sub-Saharan Africa but it is likely this number is an underestimate as collecting data in Africa is very difficult and very inaccurate. The anti-venom medicine in Africa is not very effective because it comes from India and the anti-venom needs to be locally produced to be effective.

High Flow Oxygen Devise

Over the last few years in Europe very high flow oxygen devises have been used to treat severe low oxygen conditions. They were very useful in the Covid pandemic. For the first time we have used one in the ICU.