Revista Científica de la Sociedad Española de Medicina de Urgencias y Emergencias

Mutua ASEPEYO, Teruel, Spain. Área de Urgencias, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, Spain. Servicio de Urgencias Generales, Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain. Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital García Orcoyen Estella-Lizarra, Navarra, Spain.

Emergencies due to snakebites, although unusual in Spain, are potentially serious. Of the 13 species native to the Iberian peninsula, only 5 are poisonous: 2 belong to the Colubridae family and 3 to the Viperidae family. Bites from these venemous snakes can be life-threatening, but the venomous species can be easily identified by attending to certain
physical traits. Signs denoting poisoning from vipers, and the appropriate treatment to follow, have changed in recent years.