Snake bite poison

Home treatment:

If within 40 minutes of an emergency room: Remove any restrictive clothing, rings, and watches. Have the patient rest. Keep the patient warm. Get the patient to the emergency room as soon as possible.

If further than 40 minutes from an emergency room, see the injuries document on snake bite for further information.

Before calling emergency:

Determine the following information:

• the patient's age, weight, and condition
• identification of the snake if possible
• the time bitten
• the location on the body of the bite

Poison Control, or a local emergency number:

A call is probably not necessary unless summoning an emergency vehicle, as the patient should be seen in an emergency room to determine if the bite contains any poison. Some snake bites are the result of nonpoisonous snakes. Even if the bite was from a poisonous snake, about 20 to 30% of these bites do not inject poison into the wound site and can therefore be treated as a puncture wound.

What to expect at the emergency room:

Some or all of the following procedures may be performed:

• Make an evaluation to determine if poison was injected into the wound site.
• Give antivenom if necessary.
• Give antitetanus shot if needed.
• Treat the symptoms.

Expectations (prognosis):

If treatment is obtained soon enough, less than 10% of those bitten by a poisonous snake die.