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Animal Envenomation S008

Document
Last amended 
10 November 2016
Current RMA Instruments
Reasonable Hypothesis SOP
81 of 2016
Balance of Probabilities SOP
82 of 2016
Changes from previous Instruments

SOP bulletin 193

ICD Coding:
  • ICD-9-CM Codes: 989.5
  • ICD-10-AM Codes: X20-X27
Brief description

This SOP covers the direct effects of bites, stings and injections from venomous animals, but not stings from plants and not ingestion of toxins or allergens from e.g. eating fish.

Confirming the diagnosis

Diagnosis should be straightforward, based on the clinical presentation and the physical evidence of a wound or reaction site.  It is not essential to identify the animal involved to confirm the diagnosis.

Diagnoses not covered by SOP
  • Ciguatera poisoning
  • Fugu/pufferfish poisoning
  • Food allergy, e.g. from eating crustaceans

(all non-SOP conditions)

Clinical onset

Clinical onset will be generally within hours (but up to three days) after the bite, sting or injection, except for a bite from a paralysis tick, where onset may be up to 12 days later.