title: Bilateral blindness following Russell's viper bite - a rare clinical presentation: a case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Russell's viper (Daboia russelii) is one of the most common medically important snakes reported in Sri Lanka. Its envenomation leads to significant mortality and morbidity with local, hematological, neurological and renal complications. Here we report the case of a patient who presented with bilateral blindness secondary to a bilateral posterior circulation ischemic stroke instead of the usual neurological manifestations of Russell's viper envenomation. There were no reported cases of cortical blindness following a Russell's viper bite. Only a few reported cases of ischemic strokes following a Russell's viper bite were found in the literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 54-year-old Sri Lankan woman developed bilateral blindness due to a posterior circulation infarct following Russell's viper envenomation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ischemic stroke following a Russell's viper bite is very rare and cortical blindness is not reported as the clinical presentation. Also, we emphasize the importance of considering the possibility of ischemic stroke in patients who develop unusual neurological manifestations following Russell's viper envenomation.
authors.affiliation: General Medical Unit, National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka. chandrika.ucfm@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Chandrika Jayakanthi
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Subasinghe
authors.forename: Chamara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sarathchandra
authors.forename: Thambyaiah
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kandeepan
authors.forename: Aruna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kulatunga