Haemostatic dysfunction and acute renal failure following envenoming by Merrem's hump-nosed viper (Hypnale hypnale) in Sri Lanka: first authenticated case.

A five years old boy was bitten by a Merrem's hump-nosed viper (Hypnale hypnale) in Central Province, Sri Lanka. He developed local swelling, incoagulable blood, thrombocytopenia, bleeding into the gastrointestinal tract, and acute renal failure. Treatment with Serum Institute of Indian polyspecific antivenom (specific for venoms of cobra, common krait, Russell's viper and saw-scaled viper) had no effect on the coagulopathy, which persisted for more than a week. The boy recovered after 27 d in hospital, during which he was treated with peritoneal dialysis for renal failure. Laboratory studies demonstrated that the venom of H. hypnale was procoagulant, fibrinolytic and aggregated platelets. This first authenticated case of life-threatening acute renal failure and haemostatic disturbances caused by H. hypnale, a species responsible for 27% of snake bites in Sri Lanka, demonstrates the need for a new antivenom with specific activity against the venom of this species

Physiological Condition of Juvenile Wading Birds in Relation to Multiple Landscape Stressors in the Florida Everglades: Effects of Hydrology, Prey Availability, and Mercury Bioaccumulation

The physiological condition of juvenile birds can be influenced by multiple ecological stressors, and few studies have concurrently considered the effects of environmental contaminants in combination with ecological attributes that can influence foraging conditions and prey availability. Using three temporally distinct indices of physiological condition, we compared the physiological response of nestling great egrets (Ardea alba) and white ibises (Eudocimus albus) to changing prey availability, hydrology (water depth, recession rate), and mercury exposure in the Florida Everglades. We found that the physiological response of chicks varied between species and among environmental variables. Chick body condition (short-term index) and fecal corticosterone levels (medium-term) were influenced by wetland water depth, prey availability, region, and age, but not by mercury contamination. However, mercury exposure did influence heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) in egret chicks, indicating a longer-term physiological response to contamination. Our results indicate that the physiological condition of egret and ibis chicks were influenced by several environmental stressors, and the time frame of the effect may depend on the specialized foraging behavior of the adults provisioning the chicks