Cell phone most important tool in snake bite kit
By Cindy Steinle · December 14, 2010 10:19 am
The most important item in your snake bite emergency kit may well be your cell phone. In a recent medical journal article, Dr. Cyrus Rangan, director of toxics and epidemiology at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, tells snake bite victims to skip icing, tourniquets, sucking venom and all the other old wives' tales. A call to 911 will be your best bet.
In women, such bites are mostly on the foot, the result of accidentally stepping on or near the snake. "Ninety percent of the time men get bitten on the hand because they're doing something dumb," said Dr. Rangan. He told the story of a man who kissed a rattler on the mouth – and got bitten – in two separate incidents. [....] Besides calling a pharmacy to make sure it has the appropriate antivenom in stock, Dr. Rangan said, appropriate first aid includes immobilizing the patient and elevating the bitten extremity above the heart. [....] Surgical intervention is rarely needed. Some necrotic tissue debridement might be called for, but fasciotomy is rarely indicated and is the largest contributor to comorbidity, he added.For the full article, click here. I'm interested to hear what the experts in treating these injuries say. I know the Florida Snakebite Institute is very vocally against fasciotomy.
