Brown Snake Bite

[NicoleRussell]

Lucky to be alive: Rocco Giandomenico recovers after a snake bite almost
killed him.


Snake bite victim a medical marvel
Friday, 13 January 2006

A QUIRINDI man is lucky to be alive after a bite from a brown snake almost
killed him.
Rocco Giandomenico's brush with death saw his kidneys shut down in an attack
so venomous his case may now help researchers save the lives of others. Only
three prior attacks have led to organ failure, and they were all in Western
Australia.

The 67-year-old was getting netting from underneath a shed in the backyard
of his Stanley St home, at Quirindi, when the snake latched onto a finger on
his right hand. He said the snake had got itself tangled up in the netting
and latched onto his finger as he pulled it out from underneath the shed.

"At first I thought I had caught myself on a piece of wire," he said.

"I kept pulling the netting out and what was latched onto my finger just
kept coming. It was then I realised it was a snake."

Mr Giandomenico faced further drama when he was rushed from his home to
hospital.

"My daughter immediately put a bandage on and we drove straight to Quirindi
Hospital," he said. "But I had to be taken by ambulance to Tamworth as there
was no doctor."

His wife Cecilia said it was touch and go for a couple of days as his
kidneys shut down.

"He's turned a corner now, but [then] it was a different story," Mrs
Giandomenico said.

"His platelet levels were only four at one point and he spent a few days in
the renal unit. Your platelets are like mesh and stop you from
haemorrhaging. You usually have between 150 and 400 platelets, so if you get
below 50 there is a greater

risk of haemorrhage.

"It was very frightening for a while. He's been hooked up to a dialysis
machine because his kidneys shut down."

Tamworth Base Hospital critical care physician Chris Trethewy said Mr
Giandomenico showed some features never seen before in a brown snake bite
victim.

"The kind of symptoms where one organ system fails has only ever been seen
in three cases documented in Western Australia," Dr Trethewy said.

"This is a new frontier for researchers studying the

symptoms and effects of a brown snake bite."

Doctors are unlikely to find out whether the snake that bit Mr Giandomenico
was a Western or Eastern brown, as it was killed by his son-in-law and
dumped.

"Because of the unusual evolving features of venomation displayed he has
been enrolled in the National Snake Venom Detection Study funded by Menzies
Health," Dr Trethewy said.

Mr Giandomenico, who is recovering in a ward after being moved from
intensive care, said he was extremely grateful to all the staff at Tamworth
Base Hospital.