Snake Bites

The best remedy for a snakebite: carry car keys

What if, despite all your precautions, you still suffer a snakebite? You may have heard about first aid practices such as applying cold compresses or electric shocks, cutting and sucking out venom by mouth or with a store-bought extractor, wrapping a tourniquet, or even making a poultice from the snake’s head. Here’s the thing—none of these remedies work, and they often cause more damage. “There’s only one viable treatment currently, and that is going to a hospital and getting antivenom,” Hayes says.

How to Manage a Snake Bite

In an uncertain future, you need to be prepared. Here is your guide to managing a snake bite.

How to simplify the treatment of snake bites

Snake venom kills around 140,000 people a year and debilitates roughly 400,000 others. One reason for these large numbers is that every venom needs a specific antivenin to treat it. In places with rich ophidian faunas, dozens of antivenins may therefore need to be kept to hand. Even if these are available, though, they are no guarantee of success. Someone who has been bitten may not have seen the assailant, or may be an unreliable witness. Only if the snake itself has been caught or killed can medics be sure what they are dealing with. To make things worse still, administering the wrong antivenin may not merely be useless, but dangerous,

No, you cannot ‘devaccinate’ yourself with snake venom kits, bleach or cupping

Others have tried to devaccinate using venom extraction kits. These kits include a plunger-type device you place over a snakebite, which is supposed to suck out venom.

Snakebites Kill Tens of Thousands of People Each Year — But They Really Don't Have To

A popular anti-venom will run out by June 2016, endangering many more lives. Yet experts say that all the technology to effectively treat snakebites is in place, it all just comes down to economics.

The Quest to Modernize Snakebite Medicine

Snakebites kill more than 100,000 people a year world-wide, but the problem has been largely ignored. Now, scientists are working on new ways to help victims

Tiny Nanoparticles to Treat a Huge Problem: Snakebites

Snakes kill or cripple 500,000 people a year, but antivenins are costly and rare in poor countries. Now scientists are testing injectable nanoparticles that neutralize venom.

Your Risk May Be Small, But New Study Says Snakebites More Common After Rainy Season

Snakes, however, abound throughout America, often in the most unsuspecting places. Their population is undetermined, but the good news for travelers and locals who walk, hike and run on America’s footpaths is that snakebites are rare.

Emergency treatment of a snake bite: Pearls from literature

Snake bite is a well-known occupational hazard amongst farmers, plantation workers, and other outdoor workers and results in much morbidity and mortality throughout the world. This occupational hazard is no more an issue restricted to a particular part of the world; it has become a global issue.

Good Snakes vs. Bad Snakes

The number one thing you can do to reduce conflict with venomous snakes is to learn about the wildlife that live alongside you and treat them with respect,” says Steen. “That means watching your step and your hands while recognizing and not harassing potentially dangerous snakes.”

How to Save People From Snakebites

The desperate search for better antidotes that can work against many types of venom.

Snakebites are rarer than you think, but CPR can save your life

Despite the common belief that Australia has some of the most venomous snakes in the world, our new research shows being bitten by a snake is uncommon in Australia and dying from a snakebite is very rare.

Snakebites Hit Record Highs in Southern States as Suburbs Expand

Rapid urbanization and heavy rains lead to more copperhead attacks.

Surviving a Viper Bite

While scouting a Costa Rican jungle for the perfect location for the new Discovery show “Naked and Afraid,” 51-year-old executive producer Steve Rankin was bitten by one of the most dangerous vipers on earth, the fer-de-lance.

The Bite That Heals

Scientists are unlocking the medical potential of venom.

The Healing Power of Venom

Scientists are turning toxins from scorpions, snakes and spiders into treatments for diseases including diabetes and cancer.

The Quest to Modernize Snakebite Medicine

Snakebites kill more than 100,000 people a year world-wide, but the problem has been largely ignored. Now, scientists are working on new ways to help victims.

The Snakebite Problem

Snakebite affects the lives of around 4.5 million people worldwide every year; seriously injuring 2.7 million men, women and children, and claiming some 125,000 lives. Globally the greatest burden is experienced in the tropical world; where many nations remain under developed or suffer from poor governance, political and/or social, conflict, resource scarcity, high disease burdens, or food insecurity.

Treating a Snake Bite

How to prevent, recognize and treat snake bites.

There’s a Perfectly Good Reason to Mass-Produce Snake Venom

Lab-grown glands can now produce realistic cocktails of toxins, which could help address one of the world’s biggest and most neglected health crises.

‘Like Uber for snake emergencies’: tech takes the sting out of bites in rural India

Venomous snakebites cause tens of thousands of deaths each year. But homegrown apps are coming to the rescue – and protecting reptiles from reprisals.

A New Solution For Snakebites

Snakebites are common, but anti-venom can be hard to get. One doctor is trying a new solution, with help from a former rock star.

Big strides are being made in the push for affordable, effective antivenoms

For city dwellers, especially those in the developed world, the idea of being bitten by a venomous snake seems outlandish. But it is a daily and very real risk for millions around the world – and that includes many people living in African countries.

Congo’s hidden crisis: Snakebites and envenomation

Tropical climates are home to the world’s most venomous snakes, meaning that it is often the most economically isolated and physically remote communities that are at risk of bites.

Deadly Dilemma: Do Snake-Bite Kits Help?

Doctors say the kits are, for the most part, based on outmoded ideas. The best thing to do is call 911 or get the patient to a hospital as soon as possible, says Lori Weichenthal, a wilderness-medicine expert at the University of California-San Francisco in Fresno. If possible, Dr. Weichenthal adds, immobilize the bitten limb and keep it below the level of the heart -- but more important, get to help fast.

Finally, snakebite is getting more attention as a tropical health issue

The WHO added snakebite envenoming to its list of neglected tropical diseases in 2009, but removed it in 2013 without any explanation. In 2017 the organisation reinstated snakebite – not because the threat itself had changed but because of campaigning by antivenom producers, researchers, and health-care providers.

How the science of snake bite treatments has changed

Gone are the days when we were told to suck out a snake’s venom. So what’s the current treatment and how have treatments changed over time?

Many antidotes to snake venom do not work as well as they might

Venom varies from place to place. Antivenoms must take account of this

Snakebites are on the rise as snakes migrate with climate change

As the climate changes, snakes are on the move and snakebites are becoming more common. Over the last decade, and estimated 30 million people worldwide have been bitten by snakes, with nearly 5.4 million bites in the last year alone. On average, one person dies every five minutes from the bite of a venomous snake. And these worrisome numbers are underestimates, since most bites are never reported, especially in poor rural areas.

The Claim: You Can Treat a Snakebite by Sucking Out the Venom

THE FACTS Even a New Yorker can tell you how to treat a snakebite in the middle of the woods. Apply a tourniquet, suck out the poison and spit it out. Wrong, experts say. Putting your mouth on a venomous wound is the last thing you should do.

The World Health Organization is deeply worried about snake bites

Last September, in one of the last public awareness videos recorded before his death, former UN secretary general Kofi Annan called snake bites “the biggest public health crisis you have likely never heard of.” The venom from these slippery reptiles kills up to 138,000 people each year, and leaves another 400,000 people—largely from poor countries—with permanent physical or mental disabilities.

Tiny Nanoparticles to Treat a Huge Problem: Snakebites

Snakes kill or cripple 500,000 people a year, but antivenins are costly and rare in poor countries. Now scientists are testing injectable nanoparticles that neutralize venom.

When the Cobra Bites, You’ll Be Glad Someone Sequenced Its Genome

Some scientists hope genomic technologies will lead to improved antivenom.

Why Fatal Sea Snake Bites Are Unusual

Sea snakes are commonly found in tropical and sub-tropical waters of southeast Asia, the western Pacific Ocean, and northern Australia. There are 70 known species, 30 of which exist in Australian waters.

Your Risk May Be Small, But New Study Says Snakebites More Common After Rainy Season

*If you corner a snake inadvertently, keep absolutely still until it has slithered away. Snakes strike only at moving objects.

Don't Get Rattled: Avoiding and Treating Rattlesnake Bites

Forget all the heroics you've seen in the movies - and forget those snakebite kits you find in sporting goods stores. If a bite happens, the best thing to do is simply get safely to the emergency room.

Asclepius Snakebite Foundation

We are an international team of clinicians and scientists on a mission to reverse the cycle of tragic snakebite outcomes through a combination of innovative research, clinical medicine, and education-based public health initiatives.

Global Snakebite Initiative

The Global Snakebite Initiative Limited (GSI) is a registered non-profit, charitable organisation, based in Australia, but with global membership, and established to provide a collaborative framework to address the neglected global tragedy of snakebite envenoming.

Venom Doc

Welcome to Bryan Grieg Fry's world. It is a life spent living and working with snakes. Lots of very, very poisonous snakes and other venomous creatures. Everything from the Malaysian king cobra to deadly scorpions. Bryan is passionate about venomous animals, in all their glorious shapes and sizes. When asked what it’s like to live his childhood dream of working with these animals he said “‘I am obeying the inscrutable exhortations of my inner-most soul, and my mandate also includes crocodiles’.

Australian Herpetology Online

Welcome to the UPDATED Australian Herpetology Online website hosted by Kingsnake.Com the most comprehensive Reptile & Amphibian portal on the Internet today.

eMedicineHealth

Serious venom effects can be delayed for hours. A victim who initially appears well could still become quite sick. All victims possibly bitten by a venomous snake should seek medical care without delay. The faster the patient is treated appropriately for a poisonous snakebite, the better the prognosis.

FP Notebook

Extensive management site.

Kingsnake.com

The most comprehensive Reptile & Amphibian portal on the Internet today.

MayoClinic

•Don't use a tourniquet or apply ice. •Don't cut the wound or attempt to remove the venom. •Don't drink caffeine or alcohol, which could speed the rate at which your body absorbs venom. •Don't try to capture the snake. Try to remember its color and shape so that you can describe it, which will help in your treatment.

MedicineNet

Bite severity depends on many factors, including the amount of venom injected, bite location, and a person's age and health. Seek immediate medical care if you think you've been bitten by a poisonous snake.

MedlinePlus

Venomous animals account for a large number of deaths and injuries, worldwide. Snakes alone are estimated to inflict 2.5 million venomous bites each year, resulting in about 125,000 deaths. The actual number may be much larger. Southeast Asia, India, Brazil, and areas of Africa have the most deaths due to snakebite. The right antivenom can save a person's life. Getting to an emergency room as quickly as possible is very important. If properly treated, many snake bites will not have serious effects.

MerckManuals

Of about 3000 snake species throughout the world, only about 15% worldwide and 20% in the US are dangerous to humans because of venom or toxic salivary secretions.

NHS

Some snakes are venomous and can inject venom (toxin) as they bite. A bite from a venomous snake is a medical emergency as they can be deadly if not treated quickly. In the UK, adders are the only venomous snakes found in the wild. People also keep foreign (exotic) venomous snakes, sometimes illegally. Exotic snakes have been known to bite while being handled carelessly, or when they escape from their cages.

Patient.info

Snake bites can be life-threatening injuries that can require intensive care.[1] The majority of people who are bitten by snakes in the UK, and indeed in countries where venomous snakes are more common, will have been bitten by a non-venomous snake. However, unless the identity of the snake is known with certainty, it is advisable to administer first aid with the assumption that the snake may have been venomous. Snake bites are uncommon in the UK. There is only one indigenous poisonous snake - the Vipera berus, or adder; however, other species of snakes may be found in private collections or zoos.

WHO

Envenoming following snakebite, is largely a neglected threat to public health. It affects mainly the poor in deprived rural areas where health facilities and are limited and anti-venoms may be hard to obtain. Training of health staff in the management of envenoming is often neglected, despite good evidence that it improves outcome.