Prehospital
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 - Glenn D. Braunstein MD.
HWN Suggests
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. The longer the venom is in your system, the more damage it can cause to your tissue. That means the sooner you receive treatment, the better.
Featured
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.
Articles of Interest
Back to the basics: Snakebites
Dos and don’ts, and the signs and symptoms you may encounter in managing snakebites.
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.
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.
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?
How to Manage a Snake Bite
In an uncertain future, you need to be prepared. Here is your guide to managing a snake bite.
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.
The Claim: You Can Treat a Snakebite by Sucking Out the Venom
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.
Treating a Snake Bite
How to prevent, recognize and treat snake bites.
