What Should You Do If You're Bitten by a Venomous Snake?

[Judi Lynn]

What Should You Do If You're Bitten by a Venomous Snake?
By Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | June 2, 2019 08:04am ET

Getting bitten by a venomous snake can be very scary, and can lead people to react in exactly the wrong way: Maybe they panic, try to catch or kill the snake, or apply ice or a tourniquet to the wound, which can be disastrous in certain situations.

So, how should a person respond to a bite? And what happens in the human body when a person is bitten by a venomous snake?

"The first thing to do is get away from the snake — don't try to capture it, that's just going to provide the potential for more people to get hurt," said Dr. Nicholas Kman, professor of emergency medicine at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. [The World's 6 Deadliest Snakes]

"And then, they should immediately seek medical treatment, because these symptoms can progress rapidly. We watch for redness, swelling, blistering, warmth and then signs of nausea, vomiting, muscle pain and low blood pressure," Kman told Live Science. "If we start to see those, we administer the antivenom.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/65614-what-if-bitten-by-snake.html

[mahina]

1. 1. Get on a plane and come home. We don't have snakes.

Not to diminish the problem for those areas that do have them.

[Midnightwalk]

2. For god's sake

Don’t get on a plane. I saw a documentary about how some planes are crawling with snakes. Horrifying.

[mahina]

4. Lol

[Liberty Belle]

3. True, Hawaii has no snakes, a true paradise.

[mahina]

6. Arguably

If paradise has problems too

[hlthe2b]

5. And the best thing you can do if you hike with dogs is snake aversion training for the dogs...

I have no personal stake in this one, but have repeatedly put dogs through it. Both rattlesnakes and bullsnakes (resemble rattlers sufficiently to reinforce avoidance on site and not only based on rattle sound). There is a vaccine for dogs, but it does not afford great protection, is prone to adverse reactions, has to be boosted frequently and really only buys one time to get the dog to an emergency veterinarian where antivenin is still likely to be needed.

http://www.coloradogundog.org/snake-avoidance.html