If a person has been bitten by a rattlesnake, it is vital to get medical help immediately. The person must remain calm and receive reassurance that the bite is treatable. While waiting for help to arrive, the American Red Cross advises people to wash the wound and apply a bandage to slow the spread of venom.
People can take the following steps to do this:. If the snake is already dead, take a picture of the snake from a safe distance to show the doctors.
This is to help them identify the type of snake and its venom. Do not pick up the snake or try to trap it. Never handle a venomous snake, not even a dead one, as it can still bite from a reflex reaction for several hours after its death.
Some people can have an allergic reaction to snake venom. This reaction is called anaphylaxis , or anaphylactic shock, and it can happen either immediately or several hours after a person gets bitten. Some symptoms of an allergic reaction include:. Someone who has been bitten by a snake may also go into shock. This is a medical emergency in its own right and has similar symptoms to anaphylaxis.
Symptoms of shock include:. If the bitten person is showing symptoms of shock, lay them down and raise their legs. Use a coat or blanket to help keep them warm. Rattlesnakes have a rattle or partial rattle, which comprises interlocking rings.
These rings are made of segments of keratin, which is the same material in human fingernails. When a snake vibrates the segments of keratin, it lets off a hissing sound as a warning. There are 30 recognized species of rattlesnake, ranging from 1 to 7 feet ft in length. Your best rattlesnake-bite tools, according to Dr. Jeffrey Suchard , UCI Health emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist, are simple ones:.
Snakebite symptoms include pain and swelling. These start at the wound site and may or may not travel up the bitten appendage. Sometimes, you develop a muscle twitch. In an ideal venomous snakebite situation, the victim should sit down and rest, keeping the wound below heart level, while an ambulance is called. Instead, hikers and mountain bikers may be some distance away from their car and out of cell phone range when they are bitten.
So what to do in these situations? Once at the hospital, you will be assessed for possible antivenom treatment. This outcome is based on the severity of your outward symptoms and the results of one or more blood tests. The concern is that envenomation i. Snakebite symptoms can take quite a while to manifest, so you will likely be observed and retested for a minimum of four to six hours. Severe bites may require several days of hospitalization to ensure you have received sufficient antivenom treatment.
Bitten by a nonvenomous snake? Just treat it in the field like any puncture wound: clean the bite area and apply a loose bandage. Southern California is home to a handful of rattlesnake species, including the Southern Pacific, red diamond and southwestern speckled.
These natives are part of the pit viper family, and the same antivenom works for all of them. Do not attempt to kill or trap the snake for identification purposes — there is no need for this. Venom enters the bloodstream as soon as your dog or cat has been bitten, which means they need emergency veterinary treatment as soon as possible.
The sooner you can get on the phone with veterinary emergency services, the better. Using a tourniquet can contribute to tissue death. By restricting blood flow near the bite, the venom is concentrated in one area and the blood there is not oxygenated, which can lead to necrosis. Because rattlesnake venom is hemotoxic it damages red blood cells, platelets, and blood proteins that allow normal blood clotting , it prevents the pet rattlesnake bite wound from clotting.
Unfortunately, many pet owners mistakenly think a tourniquet will stop the bleeding. Unless your pet was on a leash when bitten, it may not be immediately clear what happened.
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