MANNING RIVER TIMES (Australia) 19 July 06 Nabiac man recovers from adder's bite
Hospital officials were tightlipped yesterday about the incident, releasing no further details of the man's identity or his condition, under patient confidentiality terms.
All they would confirm is that "it was a death adder bite".
The Westpac rescue helicopter was called to Nabiac after lunch on Monday to airlift the man to the Mater.
A spokesman confirmed only brief details that the patient was a 50-year-old man, bitten on the hand, who was in a stable condition when transferred from Nabiac Oval to the Mater.
The Times understands he was working on his property at Aerodrome Road, south of Nabiac, when bitten about midday.
An ambulance took the man to a doctor's surgery in Nabiac, from where he was taken to the central oval to await the helicopter transfer.
Manning Hospital in Taree does not carry stocks of antivenin for death adder bites, but does have antivenin for more common bites such as the red bellied black snake, brown snake and tiger snake.
The hospital treats about six snake bite victims a year, most of them bitten by black snakes.
A death adder bite was "as rare as hen's teeth", the director of Manning Hospital's emergency department, Dr Jim Wills said yesterday.
The genus of about 15 known species is regarded as among the most venomous snakes in the world.
The Times knows of only one other death adder attack in the region in recent times, and that involved a pet dog which died after being bitten near Seal Rocks.
Friday's Times: Times archivists Rod and Wendy Gow uncovered four other mentions of the death adder in old editions
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