CHARLOTTE OBSERVER (N Carolina) 11 May 04 Girl bitten by snake at Alexander Middle School - 6th-grader OK, official says; small animal may have been a copperhead (Howie Paul Hartnett)

A sixth-grade student at Alexander Middle School was bitten by a small snake Monday morning.

The girl, who Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials would not identify, was walking down the sixth-grade hallway of the north Mecklenburg school shortly after school began when she saw a certificate on the floor, CMS spokesman Damon Ford said.

When she picked up the paper, she saw what she thought was a plastic snake about the size of an adult's pinkie finger, he said.

The girl picked up what officials suspect was a copperhead, a venomous snake indigenous to Mecklenburg County.

The snake bit the girl on the hand. She dropped it and went into a nearby assistant principal's office, Ford said. The principal called Huntersville Police and Medic.

The girl was taken to Carolinas Medical Center-University. Her hand was swollen, but otherwise she was OK, Ford said. "I'm told this particular student is very much animal-oriented," he said. "She wasn't scared or horrified."

Copperhead bites are painful, but rarely lead to death, said Anna Rouse, assistant director for education at the Carolinas Poison Center, based at CMC.

"Their venom can cause tissue breakdown at the site of the bite, and may cause changes in your blood count," she said. "The size of the snake and the size of the patient are not as important as whether the snake has recently eaten."

If it has recently had a meal, it likely will have less venom to inject.

Statewide, 12 snake bites have been reported in the last couple of weeks, Rouse said. Treatment depends on the severity of the bite, but usually includes cleaning the wound and giving pain medication, Rouse said. Antivenin is used only when necessary.

School officials could not say exactly what treatment the Alexander student received. But they said she was released by the hospital to her parents Monday.

The snake was caught by authorities, and a sweep of the school did not find any others, Ford said. Officials believe the snake may have come inside because a grounds crew was working around the school.
Girl bitten by snake at Alexander Middle School

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• NC Press: Girl bitten by snake at Alexander Middle School - W von Papineäu, Tue May 11 11:28:32 2004