Let us not forget there are many variables to take into account

regarding snake bite fatalities. Generaly "hemotoxic" snake bites (pardon the vauge classification )cause death via renal failure or enhanced or decreased blood preasure. This is not always the case but is definately a huge concern when talking about viperade and crotalid bites.



Generaly there needs to be massive internal bleeding from the venoms action and the reason copperheads are considered mild is because they do not posess alot of venom in comparison to members of the Crotalus genus or even other members of Agkistrodon. There for the tissue damage, aka internal bleeding is kept at a minimum. Thats why most copperhead bites look like bad bruises and nothing more.



There is also the posiblity of sucumbing to secondary infection like gang green for instance. However in this case it seem the bite quickly prooved fatal, or atleast within days. Also, since copperheads dont usualy cause sever tissue distruction ther USUALY isnt a festering wound to worry about. If bitten on a small apendage like your finger, yes, it can cause a festering wound (as was my case. I got tagged assits feeding a juvi which wiggled out just enough to slip a fang into my index finger). The vitim in the case was tagged on the ankle however so the venom should have had enough room to spread, keeping maximum effects diluted.



The most likly culprit in this case is either an exsisting medical condition the gentleman had which was enhanced due to the bite, the age of the victim (65 puts you in the high risk category)or allergic reaction leading to fatal shock.



There is the off chance that he could have been bitten by a monsterous specimen but the local indicated means it was A.c.mokasen (Northern Copperhead) which is renounded as a one of the smallest sub species. This can be misleading for the largest copperhead ever recorded came from White Plains New York, well into A.c.mokasen's range. The norm however is that Northern Copperheads are one of the smaller sub species.



No venom is only one or another type so perhaps systematic effects manifested into respitory problems. Snake venoms are always evolveing, as is their prey's imunity to said venom so it could have been some weird venom change in that population, similar to what has been documented with Norther Pacific Rattlesnakes and Timber rattlesnakes in GA.



It could also be that the victim had an exsisting heart condition or blood preasure problem which was aggrevated to a fatal degree do to the blood effecting actions of the venom.



Personaly I belive in the case the bite enhanced an exsisting medical condition leading to death based on the age of the victim. It would be very interesting to hear a more detaled medical report but I doubt we will ever see it ; ;



No real reason for this post other then to make sure everyone realizes all of the factors involved in snake bite fatalities. This bite dosent proove that copperheads are more dangerous then once thought. It prooves that any venomus bite or sting can lead to death, be it from a snake, ant, bee, coneshell, spider etc.

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