Acute Myocardial Infarction Following Viper Bite: A Rare Scenario

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a rare complication of snake bite with few reported cases in literature. The author reports a case of a 32-year-old male who developed an anterior wall AMI several hours after a Russell's viper bite. The diagnosis of myocardial infarction was confirmed by a characteristic retrosternal chest pain, typical electrocardiographic changes, and elevated Troponin I levels. The patient had no risk factors for coronary artery disease and the coronary arteries were normal on cardiac catheterization. The importance of the case report is to highlight upon the fact that physicians, especially from developing countries like India should be aware of this potentially life-threatening complication of viper bite and take immediate steps for its recognition and management.