snake bite

[dplanet]

One of the most reliable and useful sources of web info found:
http://www.avru.org/firstaid/firstaid_pib.html
If the first aid pib page not on, click the pressure immobilisation bandage link.

[jackhinde]

for the curious, here is what a venomous snake bite looks like. i followed procedure described in web site above.

Attachments

[Mountain Rocket]

Those tiny scratches just above your finger nail? *&%$#! hell that is tiny (and kinda scary)!
I assume there is a story behind the photo... what was the snake?

[wayno]

"Sporting accidents, dog attacks, lightning strikes and even peanuts cause more human deaths in Australia than snakebite."

Far more people die from ant bites, peanuts or spouses than snakes

http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=3198

[jackhinde]

Those tiny scratches just above your finger nail? *&%$#! hell that is tiny (and kinda scary)!
I assume there is a story behind the photo... what was the snake?

it was a captive broad headed snake. the marks on the first knuckle toward the top of image are from fangs injecting venom, marks on knuckle toward bottom are the lower teeth. one of the draw backs of keeping these animals. at least it wasn't Patch; my pet inland taipan

[corvus]

Was that a "Small" Broad Headed Snake wow small bite site did it invemate ? you:?:
corvus

[jackhinde]

about 3/4 grown. enough venom for an overnight hospital stay.i was probably more in danger from the inept doctor of foreign extraction who wanted to jab me full of tigersnake antivenom as soon as i presented, thankfully a nurse pointed out to said doctor "the patient knows more than you".
my only bite in 20 odd years of keeping venomous snakes as pets.

[walkinTas]

One of the most reliable and useful sources of web info found:
http://www.avru.org/firstaid/firstaid_pib.html
If the first aid pib page not on, click the pressure immobilisation bandage link.

Excellent. By the way PIB is also recommended for funnel web spider bites.

Edit: pdf factsheet if you'd like to print it.

[dplanet]

A copy has been in my first aid kit which also include a personal emergency beacon, a head torch, batteries, a spare tiny + light compass, etc..

[dplanet]

One of the most reliable and useful sources of web info found:
http://www.avru.org/firstaid/firstaid_pib.html
If the first aid pib page not on, click the pressure immobilisation bandage link.

fyi

[walk2wineries]

Perhaps a little off-topic, but still vaguely relevant: According to Discovery Channel, as referenced by Wikipedia (surely the two most reliable sources in the universe)...

Jack jumper ants cause more deaths in Tasmania than spiders, snakes, wasps, and sharks combined.

I'm not allergic but these bites do hurt.... For those who are allergic, http://www.ccrem.org.au/news/2014.07.07 ... rgies.html

[dplanet]

Recently waited for hours and hours at a hosptial in east Melbourne. More doctors are needed.

[Mountain Rocket]

Waited for hours after receiving a (suspected) snake bite?

[dplanet]

It was an allergy, not a snake bite.

[Mountain Rocket]

Ah, that makes a lot more sense! You had me really worried there.

[walkon]

Recently waited for hours and hours at a hosptial in east Melbourne. More doctors are needed.

Trust me, when you tell a busy casualty department at the hospital that you have been bitten by a snake things happen immediately!

for the curious, here is what a venomous snake bite looks like. i followed procedure described in web site above.

I was bitten three times in the one incident by a Tiger snake. There was only two puncture wounds, not from the same bite, the rest were just scratches. Bar the pain, it only looked as though I had banged my wrist/hand on something. Which is what I thought happened, until till I looked to see what I had hit myself on.

[walk2wineries]

Recently waited for hours and hours at a hosptial in east Melbourne. More doctors are needed.

i) Nope. Actually what we need are fewer bureaucrats (half of one's time is spent on the most incredibly inefficient data entry - and the way it works in most hospitals is that one can't see a patient until one finds a free computer, logs in EACH TIME... and indicates who will be seeing which patient. The computer tells you where the patient is - meanwhile someone has moved them.....) and some more unskilled - okay, differently skilled workers to do stuff like clean up, answer phones....
Return the BEDS that have been "rationalised" - a lot of the time the delay is LITERALLY nowhere to put the next person.

ii) Be prepared to wait regardless of how promptly you are seen. Different departments of health have different guidelines, but most are along the lines of - do blood and urine tests, maybe swab the site (each specimen tested means one venom detection kit at a couple of hundred bucks, so may not be tested if you look well and bloods are okay) and if stuff is good, retest about 4 hours later, and most guidelines advise watching for 12 to 24 hours. So bring a book.

[dplanet]

It was Friday night and there were two doctors, one of whom worked under supervisor. I was happy with their performance and care. The site was swabbed and the finding is a common virus attack.

[Strider]

My wife spent over 5 hours sitting on a chair immediately after giving birth last Sunday night as we were not moved into another room afterward, nor was the bed in the room fit for use (still covered in blood and afterbirth, 5 hours later). The reasons we were given was that the staff were "doing some work on the computer" and "I'll sort it out when I'm finished".

Bureaucracy in hospitals can go suck a fat one.

[dplanet]

Your wife had been heavily pregnant and you are now the father of the little S. Congratulations! It seems to me that you have been a very active online user on the forum. Good luck to the wife and the child.

[Strider]

I'm here more than I should be because I couldn't get out walking with a heavily pregnant wife at home!

Thanks for the congrats

[walk2wineries]

It was Friday night and there were two doctors, one of whom worked under supervisor. I was happy with their performance and care. The site was swabbed and the finding is a common virus attack.

great. BTW one swabs the site - for the cost of a cotton bud. Send to lab, if bloods are off then they do the the VDK. I'm a sook - warned we might be bushbashing during today's walk I was in heavy drill strides instead of my thin hiking daks.

[neilmny]

My wife spent over 5 hours sitting on a chair immediately after giving birth last Sunday night as we were not moved into another room afterward, nor was the bed in the room fit for use (still covered in blood and afterbirth, 5 hours later). The reasons we were given was that the staff were "doing some work on the computer" and "I'll sort it out when I'm finished".

Bureaucracy in hospitals can go suck a fat one.

Couldn't agree more Strider that really stinks.

But more importantly congratulations on the new arrival.
Thinks........ Strider and Toddler????

[Strider]

Don't worry, I'll be making a formal complaint in writing next week.

Not my first child

[walkerchris77]

Might need to get a bigger tent now strider

[Strider]

One day Chris. Walks with kids will be a fair way off yet. Our eldest son isnt far off two, so a few more years at least.

Better start saving now for that Hilliberg though, I guess!

[Lindsay]

Congrats to you and Mrs S on the new addition Strider.

[dplanet]

It was Friday night and there were two doctors, one of whom worked under supervisor. I was happy with their performance and care. The site was swabbed and the finding is a common virus attack.

great. BTW one swabs the site - for the cost of a cotton bud. Send to lab, if bloods are off then they do the the VDK.

Lucky that there had been no blood test required. The virus, which had caused infection, was identified. Then, it has been the moisturising gel and antibiotic treatment. Again, I believe that there has been a shortage of the hospital doctors. In my case, the next appointment is at the end of this month, instead of early this week.

[dplanet]

Went and saw the hospital doctors a few times and it is good news that I am quite ok.

Regarding public health, I think the link to Get-Up petition is important to know http://getup.to/vQnNUVaziYmEUZN5

[Overlandman]

Wonder if RTK & Mike the Pyke are off to S A

From ABC News

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-11/s ... ld/5880036

With media reports trumpeting South Australia’s first catastrophic fire rating of the season last week and a dangerous season ahead, Adelaide residents are becoming increasingly aware that a bush inferno is not the only danger lurking in the heat.

Veterinarians are reporting animal snake bites numbering three times what they were at the start of last year's season, and already the Women's and Children's Hospital Toxinology Department has reported a number of significant patient admissions requiring anti-venom.

Willunga High School, near McLaren Vale, last week evacuated its library due to a brown snake in the building, while two other schools at Lenswood and Bridgewater in the Adelaide Hills also called in snake catchers.

Most accounts of snake sightings report an eastern brown snake, the second most venomous land snake in the world, at the centre of the action.

Vets say a dry end to winter, the driest October in recorded history and a number of hot weather spurts, has brought them out in higher numbers than usual.
Vets report animal snake bites up 'threefold'

Avenue Road Stirling Veterinary Surgery principal doctor Sophie Rumbold is based in the Adelaide Hills where the surgery has received a "threefold increase" of animals bitten by snakes, mostly cats and dogs, compared with the same time last year.

"Typically we treat a lot of cats because quite often it can take up to two days before they show symptoms, whereas dogs, unfortunately, tend to go downhill quite quickly, usually within half an hour of being bitten.

They (brown snakes) can spring off the ground and hit an adult in the face quite easily. They're not something to have a go at.
Ian Renton, Snakes Away Services

"Usually they're found dead by their owners."

Outside of work she had also seen a lot more snakes than usual for the time of year.

"I think in the last week I saw three snakes squashed on the road when I was out walking my dogs, which is unusual," Dr Rumbold said.

"My dogs also caught one last week and left it on my front door step for me."

Magill Animal Emergency Centre relationships manager Jo Softley said she had seen a "substantial increase" on snake bites at the metropolitan surgery in Adelaide, "and we haven't even hit summer yet".

She said most patients were cats and dogs, due to the fact cats were inquisitive and "treated snakes like a toy" and dogs tended to hunt them.

"Horses, however, will either stand still until the snake goes away, or they'll stomp on it," Ms Softley said.

"But a cat goes after them, and that's where the trouble starts."
Snakes Away Services managing director Ian Renton said snakes were being found in houses and garages right across metropolitan Adelaide.

He said people often left water in bowls or in buckets at the back door for their pets.

"Snakes smell the water, come for a drink, and at the same time, when they go past a doorway they feel the air conditioning seeping out the doorway," Mr Renton said.

"Their blood starts to boil when their body temperature reaches 32 degrees Celsius, so they'll generally be found under pathways, large moss rocks, cement floors, in sheds, anywhere they can get cooler."

Toxinology department reports admissions
Doctor Kate Sanders, from the University of Adelaide's Ecology and Evolutionary Biology unit, said snake bites on animals would be one of the best ways to measure the size of snake populations, even if she had not seen any recent data.

Head of the Women's and Children's Hospital Toxinology Department, Professor Julian White, said human bite victim numbers tended to be erratic and hard to measure against other seasons but there had already been a number of significant cases of envenoming this year.

He said brown snakes were by far the most common cause of snake bites.

"It generally produces a very small amount of toxic venom, which is fortunate for us, and it only has very small fangs, less than 3 millimetres long," Professor White said.

"The chance of the snake effectively biting and delivering enough venom, particularly if it's through clothing, is reduced compared to some other snakes.

"However, when it injects enough venom to cause a problem, it causes very significant problems."

Professor White said people who were unlucky enough to receive a major bite could collapse within minutes to an hour of being bitten, particularly if they did not apply first aid and remain still - one of the most important responses to a snake bite.

"We believe that most venom moves by the lymphatic channels, which are separate fluid movements systems in the body compared to the blood stream," Professor White said.

"As you move your muscles, it increases pressure in the muscles, and the lymph glands are one-way valves.

"It moves the fluid to the central part of the body where it enters the blood stream in the chest."
Potential for snake bites to go unnoticed

Mr Renton said one of the most dangerous aspects of a brown snake was the fact a lot of bites went unnoticed.

The snake catcher had been bitten twice in 30 years of snake removal services, once by a brown snake, the other time by a spectacled hooded snake, but said the brown snake felt no more painful than trying to dig a small splinter from your skin.

"The slightest little pinprick and you've got to stop and think 'well, was it a snake? Or was it the thorn of a rosebush?'

"Any potential snakebite you have to straight away treat as an emergency because if you don't, and it was a snake, you're dead within minutes."

Mr Renton said if a snake was found inside a house, it was best to try and isolate it from the rest of the house by closing doors and blocking the gap below doors, possibly "sweeping it gently" into another room if necessary using a long-handled broom.

If it was small enough, people could try and put a bucket over it, but the most important thing was not to keep an eye on the snake until a professional snake remover arrived.

"The bigger they are, the faster they are," Mr Renton said.

"The average-sized brown snake is a metre and above, and when it's fully charged, it can outmanoeuvre the average adult for the first 100 metres.

"I've seen them hit the bottom railing of a six-foot corrugated iron fence and just glide up over the top.

"They can spring off the ground and hit an adult in the face quite easily. They're not something to have a go at."

Professor White said the early symptoms of a snake bite differed between humans, animals, and different species of animals.

Cats and dogs suffered hind limb paralysis that worked forward through the body and cats were far more resilient to venom than dogs.

Humans showed descending limb paralysis, meaning their face tended to show paralysis before their limbs.