Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

It was muscle twitch: expert

G. Anand

Clears air on `sign of life' in body of youth, who died of snakebite

Thiruvananthapuram: The Health Department said there was no truth in the allegation that Zakir, 20, who died of suspected snakebite at the Medical College Hospital (MCH) on Friday, had shown signs of life before his burial.

The police decision to avoid an autopsy had caused the controversy. DySP, Nedumangadu, G. Murukesan, said the police are empowered to release a body without autopsy if no foul play is suspected.

Zakir's relatives `recognised' signs of life in him while ritually bathing his body for burial. He was treated at a traditional snakebite cure centre before the woman healer `declared' him dead on Saturday morning. Zakir was buried at a mosque near his house in Aryanad. The local people had accused the MCH authorities of `wrongly declaring' Zakir `dead' and putting him `alive' in the cold chamber of the morgue.

Noted forensic expert and former Director of Medical Education, B. Umadethan, told The Hindu that such beliefs had no scientific basis. The muscles in a body could twitch even 12 hours after death.

The cause

External stimuli, such as applying pressure on the body or passing an electric current through it, could cause such "fasciculation or idio-muscular contractions". The relatives who bathed Zakir's body could have applied pressure on the deceased and inadvertently caused the phenomenon. Atropin, a drug used for treating snakebite, could also cause it.

He said cells `lived' for hours in a person even after he is technically dead. Brain cells degraded first, while those in the prostrate, eye and muscles died last.

For instance, corneas removed from a body even six hours after death are deemed fit for transplantation. No person could survive the cold chamber conditions of the morgue. The MCH authorities said they had looked thrice for signs of life in Zakir, including heart beat, respiration and dilation of pupils (by shining a torch into the eye) before declaring him dead.

The culprit

They suspect that a spectacled cobra, which is active during day, had bitten Zakir. The snake inhabits rat holes. (The police said Zakir had seen the snake retreat into a rat hole).

Mr. Umadethan said cobra venom is a respiratory failure causing neurotoxin. Cobras cause most snakebite deaths in Kerala followed by vipers. He said viper bite victims had a better chance of survival because the venom, which affects the blood, took more time to act. Traditional snakebite cures are successful only in cases where no venom has entered the blood.

Venomous snakes are known to deliver bites without injecting venom. Such `dry bites' could be accidental or the snake's attempt to conserve its venom.

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