ARIZONA REPUBLIC (Phoenix) 31 October 06 The quick and the undead - Snakebite may not kill you, but get help at once (Mary Beth Faller)
If you are bitten by a rattlesnake, the good news is that you will know it quickly.
That's because of the bad news: You'll know because the pain is excruciating.
"The pain starts setting in very quickly," says Russell Johnson, president of the Phoenix Herpetological Society, who was bitten in 2001 while working with a snake. advertisement
"You experience blurred vision. Whatever you had for lunch will come up. And the pain is extreme," says Johnson, who was treated at a hospital quickly after the bite.
"The antivenin stops the tissue degradation and, hopefully, stops the blood cells from being destroyed. But it does nothing for the pain. They give you drugs for the pain, but on the first day, they don't work."
This is the time of year when encounters with rattlesnakes tend to increase in the Valley because snakes and people are out more.
"With the cooler nights, the snakes are staying out later in the day, instead of getting into the shade in the morning," Johnson says. "They get out and sun themselves to get their temperature up over 90, and you've got people hiking."
Many snakebites happen because people stupidly - or drunkenly - try to touch or chase a snake, Johnson says. The Phoenix Herpetological Society presents educational programs in schools to teach kids to not emulate the animal handlers they see on television.
"They try to pick up the snake with a stick," he says.
Still, sometimes hikers and gardeners are bitten when they startle a snake.
"You can put your hand on a rock and there's a snake on the other side of the rock, or step on one in thick brush. If you can't see where you're putting your hands or feet, don't put them there."
If you see a snake on the trail, give it space.
"Give it one giant step. The longest rattlesnake in Arizona can barely strike 24 inches," he says. "Just back away a couple of steps and he's not going to chase you. You might cause it to rattle and become defensive, but he's not going to waste venom on you. If he bites you, he can't kill a rodent for three to five days - he's giving up the possibility of a meal."
Johnson admits his bite happened when he let his concentration ebb for a few seconds while handling a snake. The fang got stuck between his knuckles, so he got a heavy dose of venom. He spent three days in the intensive care unit.
"I can't have road rage with my right hand because my middle finger has a lot of ligament and tendon damage" from the bite, he says. "It blistered and looked like gangrene. It was a very grotesque thing."
In fact, tissue damage is the most likely result of a snakebite, not death, according to Kevin Washington, an emergency-room physician at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, and a fellow in toxicology.
Although there are more than 8,000 bites from venomous snakes reported every year, they result in 12 or fewer deaths, according to a survey reported in 2002 in the New England Journal of Medicine, although the fatalities are usually from rattlesnakes.
Although a small number of rattlesnake bites are "dry," or without venom, it's best not to sit and ponder that possibility if you're bitten.
Washington says that some bite victims will skip a trip to the hospital, assuming they were not envenomated.
"Leg bites often look like dry bites. They can trick you," he says.
"And then they wake up the next day and their leg is gigantic and swollen. It can make recovery much longer.
"The idea is to give antivenin as soon as possible if needed."
Snakebite may not kill you, but get help at once