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April 26, 2004

Atkinson County- Daniel Lavender retraces the steps he made last Tuesday morning. He remembers being excited to see a snake cross his truck's path as he drove through an Atkinson County field.

"I thought it was a scarlet king snake and decided that I wanted to catch it and I was going to carry it home to get rid of some rattlesnakes," he admits.

Lavender jumped out of truck, stepped on it's tail and bent down to catch it. "Apparently the snake felt a little differently about the whole ordeal and took a bite at me, and I pulled back and that's when the tooth actually went into my finger."

Fortunately co-workers convinced him to go to the hospital and get checked out, because what he thought was a harmless Scarlet King, was really a deadly Coral Snake. Both look similar, but as Lavender now knows there's an easy rhyme to help tell the two apart.

"Red and black a friend of Jack's. Red and yellow a deadly fellow."

Antivenin flown in from Atlanta and Tallahassee was injected into his body before Lavender even experienced any symptoms. And after two days in intensive care he says he's learned his lesson.

"What I did was very stupid and I would not recommend it for anybody to even try to touch a snake."

Lavender says he won't. And he's proven it. When a snake slithered our way during the interview. Lavender made sure to stay out of its path.

"I don't know what kind he is, but I have a book at the office and I'll be glad to identify him for you. I'm not touching him. No. I don't care if he isn't venomous," Lavender laughs.

Aside from frightening memories, he has few side effects from the medicine.

"My joints hurt a little bit and I have a few muscle spasms, but other than that I'm doing pretty good. I was just a stupid mistake on my part."

And one he says he'll never forget and never repeat.

A forestry ranger caught and killed the coral snake that bit Lavender. He now has it at home and plans to send it to the Poison Control Center so they can use it to warn others to stay away from them.
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Bud

Great story right up until the last paragraph.
Isn't it wonderful to have rangers there to protect the forest from fire starters, the deer and rabbits and racoons and other game animals from poachers and oh yeah to kill the venomous snakes that are also essential parts of the habitat that they are there to protect.
Karl

What made the guy think a scarlet king would be good rattlesnake control to begin with?

~~Greg~~

there are a few parts of this article that bother me. 1. what kind of doctor administers antivenom before any symptoms are even present? maybe it was a dry bite. now this man, aside from being publicly humiliated for picking up a coral snake and being bitten by it, has anitvenom side effects and a higher doctors bill, and maybe it was all for nothing. 2. what type of forest ranger, the protector of our natural resources, kills a snake because it was unfortunate enough to be stepped on and grabbed as it went along its merry way? does anyone else see anything wrong with this. I mean, these should be the last people we'd expect to kill animals for no reason. I've run into this same forest ranger mentality in Maryland. One of my favorite timber dens is now pretty much gone thanks to the wonderful conservation efforts of the local forest rangers killing them.? anyway, sorry for the ranting chris

they administered antivenin because coral snake bites usually do not produce symptoms right away. It can take up to 8 to 10 hours before signs of envenomation are apparent, and by then, it can be too late. Coral snake envenomations may show no signs up until your organs start to fail. If a person is bitten by a coral snake, waiting for symptoms to show before administering AV is plain stupid. The doctors did the right thing. If they had waited, the man could have died.

AP

you wrote,
"Coral snake envenomations may show no signs up until your organs start to fail"
coral snakes being primarly neurotoxic, causes death from respiratory shut down.
The lungs dont die the diaphrams nerve is blocked with the venom.
coral venom seldom leaves a mark.

multiple organ failure is mostly from viper bites

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Bud

The Dr should of waited till the patient showed systemic signs of envenomation.Typical signs presented can be,ptosis,excessive saliva,difficulty swallowing,opthalmalplegia,elevated co2 in arterial gases etc etc.(not necessarily in that order)Once the patient shows signs of envenomation then AV should be administered.Its a waste of expensive AV,exposing the patient to possible dangers to allergic reactions then or in the future, and exposing him to serum sickness(painfull joints)As you pointed out coral snake bites can take a while to show signs of envenomation hence why patients should be monitored for min 12hrs,if nothing shows they can be sent home with a list of complications that may arise and to contact the hospital asap.
John

Budman,

You're right, I need to proofread my posts better
I do believe though that kraits in general can cause organ failure after the "latency" period following the bite, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...

Rabies,

This is just my opinion, but if I knew I'd been bitten by a coral snake, I would ask for AV immediately. If the I.D of snake was in question, sure I'd wait, because I don't want AV if I got bitten by a scarlet kingsnake or something. Then again, i know the difference between a king and a coral, so the chances of me not id'ing it but being bitten are slim. However, the longer you wait after a bite, the worse the damage can be. So personally, I believe immediate infusion of AV would be warranted...again, just an opinion.

AP

>>Budman,
>>
>>You're right, I need to proofread my posts better
>>I do believe though that kraits in general can cause organ failure after the "latency" period following the bite, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...

Actually, krait bites also kill primarily through respiratory failure, but you are absolutely right about the latency period and the benefits of early a/v.

Giving a/v immediately is certainly recommended in at least some coral snake bite protocols I have seen. Once neurotoxic symptoms set in after coral snake bites, they are not easily reversed, particularly if presynaptic neurotoxins are involved (I believe they are in many coral snakes) - by the time symptoms appear, the damage is done. Respiratory failure is always a serious matter, even with mechanical ventilation in an ICU - there are a number of risk factors associated with that, including forms of pneumonia etc., quite apart from it being a fairly unpleasant experience. If early a/v injection can prevent systemic neurotoxicity from developing, then injecting it before symptoms develop may be a lesser risk than waiting. Also, i don't have the detailed costings for this sort of thing, but I suspect that a few days on a respirator in ICU, keeping a consultant busy, will cost you considerably more than the few vials of antivenom required for a coral snake bite - anyone have any more detailed info on that?

Cheers,

Wolfgang
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