Eastern brown envenomation venom induced consumptive coagulopathy prospective study

This study was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of the University of Queensland (Project ID: 2021/AE001005) and conducted between October X, 2022 and Feb X, 2023 and conducted at a single veterinary hospital (UQ Vets, School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Gatton, Australia). Seventeen dogs were enrolled in the study. Written informed owner consent was obtained prior to inclusion of dogs in the study. Dogs were eligible for inclusion if they met the following inclusion criteria for diagnosis of eastern brown snake envenomation: a witnessed snake envenomation with presentation or photographic evidence allowing identification of a brown snake, and evidence of lower motor neuron signs and/or a coagulopathy; a positive urine or blood snake venom detection kit (SVDK) for brown snake antigen; laboratory evidence of a coagulopathy as demonstrated by a prolonged prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) and lower motor neuron signs in a dog or cat in a known brown snake locality in the months between September - March. Exclusion criteria included any dogs known to have previous coagulopathy, on any regular medication, 0.998) and standard curve replicates had CVs less than 10%. The lower limit of P. textilis venom antigen quantification for all runs was 0.78 ng/mL (3 x SD higher than ELISA buffer blank). Because clinical samples were initially diluted 50% in ELISA buffer, the lower limit of quantification in undiluted samples (neat serum/plasma) was therefore 1.56 ng/mL. Data management: Individual patient characteristics, clinical signs reported at presentation and during hospitalisation, and outcome data was recorded and collated with all laboratory data in Microsoft Excel and was stored on the University of Queensland Research Data Manager.