[Pure defibrination after timber rattlesnake bite].

The only disorder of coagulation observed after a timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) bite was a total absence of fibrinogen which lasted 64 hours despite hourly administration of cryoprecipitates. The pure defibrination experimentally obtained with this particular species of crotalid snakes underlines the specificity of the coagulation disorder and the impossibility of identifying the coagulopathy induced by venom poisoning without laboratory examination.