Have you ever gotten bit by a snake? Was that snake venomous?
If you are bitten by a snake, Grand Strand Health Medical Center faculty member and snake bite specialist Dr. Jarratt Lark said the first thing to do is stay calm. It’s important to try and avoid circulating the venom into your central nervous system.
They recommend keeping the area where you got bitten in a neutral position at heart level, so not raising it or lowering it, because that can make the venom within your body travel. Icing or heating the area won’t help with the bite either.
Tourniquets are a big “no no,” he said, because the venom tends to track through the lymphatic system, so cutting off blood supply would increase the tissue damage that’s already happening.
Lark also said not to try and suck out the venom because it’s putting mouth bacteria into an already contaminated environment with dead tissue, which is an invitation for infection.
“Just get straight to the hospital,” he said. “If you can take a picture of the snake, that’s helpful for us, but we can also tell by the clinical presentation what kind of snake bit you too by a combination of what does it look like and your blood tests.”
According to Lark, Grand Strand Health’s Emergency Department treats, on average, roughly 36 to 48 snake bites a year. He said it’s important for these residents to be able to see the kinds of snakes from which their future patients might have gotten bites.
Lark said that over the years, the emergency department has developed a relationship with Alligator Adventure, which keeps a large anti-venom bank that the hospital can utilize.
“[They] have allowed us access to that anti-venom to treat exotic snake envenomations, so we’ve become one of the regions specialty centers,” he said. “So our residents have the experience of treating multiple exotic snake envenomations over the course of their residency.”
Residents will have to learn what anti-venoms to use for what snake bites, as well as what bites don’t need anti-venom, Lark explained.
Copperhead Snake bites are probably the most common Lark and his team see in the hospital. So far this year they’ve already seen more than a dozen, according to Lark.
“Copperheads know that they are ultra well camouflaged and you cannot see them,” he said. “So their strategy is to freeze and they think you don’t see them and you don’t, and you end up stepping on them and their reflex then is to bite you.”
They are also the most common venomous snake in South Carolina, according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources. In addition to Cooperheads, South Carolina is home to five other venomous snakes: Coral Snake, Cottonmouth, Pigmy Rattlesnake, Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake and Timber Rattlesnake.
Besides these kinds of bites, Lark said they see also see pet owners in the hospital with exotic snake bites from their pets.
In South Carolina, reptiles like snakes have become popular pets in recent years, with thousands of people attending exotic pet shows annually.
Gaboon Vipers are venomous snakes that originate from Sub-Saharan Africa. If left untreated , a bite from one could be fatal, according to University of California San Diego’s medical school.
“In this state, there are a lot of people who have a lot of exotic, venomous snakes,” Lark said. “Most of them have me on speed-dial. They know I’m the one who has access to the anti-venom and they will call me.”
In addition to treating locals for snake bites, Lark said they also get patients flown in by helicopter from hundreds of miles away for treatment.
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