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Venomous snake bites nearly double in South Florida. Here's what to do if you're ever bitten.
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Leroy N. Soetoro
Dec 1, 2023, 4:56:56 PM12/1/23
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https://news.yahoo.com/venomous-snake-bites-nearly-double-103000049.html
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Two months ago, 21-year-old Amazon driver Mone’t
Robinson delivered a package to the front porch of a Palm City home. But
instead of leaving in her truck, she left in an ambulance.
A large eastern diamondback rattlesnake — the most venomous snake in North
America — was coiled on the porch and struck her on the back of the leg,
just above the knee.
By the time medics loaded her into the ambulance, she could “hardly
breathe,” and would spend three weeks in the hospital recovering.
This year there have been nearly twice as many emergency snake bites than
in the previous two years, according to Lt. Chris Pecori of the Miami-Dade
Venom Response Team, which responds to snake bites in Miami-Dade, Broward
and Palm Beach counties and oversees antivenom procurement for the region.
“We actually had a significant increase,” Pecori said. “We usually average
two bites a month. In 2020, there were a total of 27 bites. In 2021, it
was 27. In 2022, it was 25, and this year I’ve had 42 bites. So I am up.”
It’s hard to say why there may be more bites this year, but Pecori
suspects it could be related to the recent population boom in Florida.
“We’re expanding so far west, into our Everglades,” he said.
He collected his statistics after South Florida’s “snake season,” which
runs from April to October, ended.
His statistics include three categories of bites:
— Native venomous snakes such as the eastern diamondback rattlesnake that
bit Robinson, as well as cottonmouths and coral snakes.
— Exotic venomous snakes held in captivity, such as cobras.
— Bites from non-venomous snakes such as invasive pythons.
From 2020-2022, he averaged two eastern diamondback bites annually, and
this year he’s treated five.
Cottonmouths, aka water moccasins, account for 6% of bites nationally,
said Pecori, but in South Florida, they’re the No. 1 venomous bite species
because of our region’s matrix of swamps and canals. In the past four
years, the cottonmouth bites have fluctuated from 9 to 12 bites per year.
He said the most common venomous snake bite in all of Florida is from the
dusky pygmy rattlesnake, the smallest rattler in the U.S. at 12 to 24
inches. Pecori said no one has ever died from one of their bites, but you
can lose a finger if you don’t seek treatment and the wound becomes
necrotic.
His team has treated eight bites from non-native exotic venomous snakes
this year, and they were all from captive snakes — he’s never had an
exotic bite in the wild.
Where the bites occur
Robinson’s bite happened in a housing development built in 2005 in Palm
City, near Stuart. To the west is the Turnpike and farmland, to the south
is Atlantic Ridge Preserve State Park. This kind of wilderness/suburbia
boundary may be part of a snake-bite trend.
“I don’t get too many calls on the eastern (more developed) side of my
county,” Pecori said. “Most of my bites are down in Homestead, Florida
City, or to the western edge of the populated areas.”
Cottonmouth bites seem to cluster in a specific area farther north. “I see
cottonmouth bites mostly in Southwest Broward and Northwest Dade, in that
little realm where they (developers) have kinda developed into swampish
Everglades areas.”
One non-venomous species that may occasionally penetrate suburbia,
possibly via canals, is the invasive Burmese python. Pecori said he gets
about two python calls a month, and he recently caught one in Coral
Gables, the farthest north and east he’d ever seen one.
The rattler on the porch
The eastern diamondback rattlesnake that bit Robinson is the largest
rattlesnake species in North America, reaching 8 feet in length, and packs
the most punch, in part, because its bite delivers a large venom load.
Dr. Ben Abo, a wilderness medic and toxinologist who is consulted by
emergency room doctors all over the country on snake bites, said the fact
that the snake was on a porch may have made the bite more likely. “Not
only did it probably feel trapped, but she’s a lot taller than it. These
are snakes that are not going to hunt us. They don’t want to waste their
venom on us.”
He said Robinson’s difficulty breathing was not a typical reaction. “She
may have been having a severe allergic reaction because of the size of the
venom load,” he said.
“The venom (of the eastern diamondback rattlesnake) is a cocktail of
toxins that do different things — it’s a combination of toxins that eat
away at the tissue … there’s also neurotoxins (that attack the nerves) and
hemotoxins, so it affects the blood’s ability to clot.”
The amount of venom alters the effects. He said that Robinson likely
received a fairly large load, and that reactions can range from localized
pain to skin death and destruction to complete cardiovascular collapse.
First aid if you’re bitten
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, six of
Florida’s 44 native snake species are venomous: the eastern coral snake,
the southern copperhead, the cottonmouth, the eastern diamondback
rattlesnake, the timber rattlesnake and the dusky pygmy rattlesnake.
If one of them bites you, all the old wives’ tales are bunk, Abo said.
“You don’t keep the bite lower than the heart. You don’t do tourniquets or
anything compressive. You don’t hook up a car battery or tase it or use
electricity. You don’t cut and suck, or use any of those commercial
extractors. And no ice. Those methods will not only not help, they will
cause damage,” he said.
It’s extremely important to keep the bite elevated above your heart so the
toxins, which eat away at flesh, don’t remain concentrated in the
extremity. In other words, if a snake bites your leg, lie down and elevate
the leg.
The idea is to spread them out and weaken them. Keeping the wound below
your heart would exacerbate swelling as well, which delays healing. He
also implored people to not be afraid of the antivenom.
Pecori added that you should not take aspirin or anti-inflammatories,
because they can increase bleeding. He agreed with Abo’s advice, and said
the only time he would use a tourniquet on himself is if he was stuck in
the Australian outback, eight hours from the nearest hospital, and he was
bitten by an inland taipan, whose venom would shut down his airway.
In Florida, no tourniquets, he said. “Here, everyone is within 15 to 30
minutes of a hospital with antivenom, even if that requires a helicopter.”
Pecori said that the antivenoms work for cats and dogs, too, and some are
specifically made for pets. If your pet suffers a bite, he suggested
calling your vet, not 911.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Two months ago, 21-year-old Amazon driver Mone’t
Robinson delivered a package to the front porch of a Palm City home. But
instead of leaving in her truck, she left in an ambulance.
A large eastern diamondback rattlesnake — the most venomous snake in North
America — was coiled on the porch and struck her on the back of the leg,
just above the knee.
By the time medics loaded her into the ambulance, she could “hardly
breathe,” and would spend three weeks in the hospital recovering.
This year there have been nearly twice as many emergency snake bites than
in the previous two years, according to Lt. Chris Pecori of the Miami-Dade
Venom Response Team, which responds to snake bites in Miami-Dade, Broward
and Palm Beach counties and oversees antivenom procurement for the region.
“We actually had a significant increase,” Pecori said. “We usually average
two bites a month. In 2020, there were a total of 27 bites. In 2021, it
was 27. In 2022, it was 25, and this year I’ve had 42 bites. So I am up.”
It’s hard to say why there may be more bites this year, but Pecori
suspects it could be related to the recent population boom in Florida.
“We’re expanding so far west, into our Everglades,” he said.
He collected his statistics after South Florida’s “snake season,” which
runs from April to October, ended.
His statistics include three categories of bites:
— Native venomous snakes such as the eastern diamondback rattlesnake that
bit Robinson, as well as cottonmouths and coral snakes.
— Exotic venomous snakes held in captivity, such as cobras.
— Bites from non-venomous snakes such as invasive pythons.
From 2020-2022, he averaged two eastern diamondback bites annually, and
this year he’s treated five.
Cottonmouths, aka water moccasins, account for 6% of bites nationally,
said Pecori, but in South Florida, they’re the No. 1 venomous bite species
because of our region’s matrix of swamps and canals. In the past four
years, the cottonmouth bites have fluctuated from 9 to 12 bites per year.
He said the most common venomous snake bite in all of Florida is from the
dusky pygmy rattlesnake, the smallest rattler in the U.S. at 12 to 24
inches. Pecori said no one has ever died from one of their bites, but you
can lose a finger if you don’t seek treatment and the wound becomes
necrotic.
His team has treated eight bites from non-native exotic venomous snakes
this year, and they were all from captive snakes — he’s never had an
exotic bite in the wild.
Where the bites occur
Robinson’s bite happened in a housing development built in 2005 in Palm
City, near Stuart. To the west is the Turnpike and farmland, to the south
is Atlantic Ridge Preserve State Park. This kind of wilderness/suburbia
boundary may be part of a snake-bite trend.
“I don’t get too many calls on the eastern (more developed) side of my
county,” Pecori said. “Most of my bites are down in Homestead, Florida
City, or to the western edge of the populated areas.”
Cottonmouth bites seem to cluster in a specific area farther north. “I see
cottonmouth bites mostly in Southwest Broward and Northwest Dade, in that
little realm where they (developers) have kinda developed into swampish
Everglades areas.”
One non-venomous species that may occasionally penetrate suburbia,
possibly via canals, is the invasive Burmese python. Pecori said he gets
about two python calls a month, and he recently caught one in Coral
Gables, the farthest north and east he’d ever seen one.
The rattler on the porch
The eastern diamondback rattlesnake that bit Robinson is the largest
rattlesnake species in North America, reaching 8 feet in length, and packs
the most punch, in part, because its bite delivers a large venom load.
Dr. Ben Abo, a wilderness medic and toxinologist who is consulted by
emergency room doctors all over the country on snake bites, said the fact
that the snake was on a porch may have made the bite more likely. “Not
only did it probably feel trapped, but she’s a lot taller than it. These
are snakes that are not going to hunt us. They don’t want to waste their
venom on us.”
He said Robinson’s difficulty breathing was not a typical reaction. “She
may have been having a severe allergic reaction because of the size of the
venom load,” he said.
“The venom (of the eastern diamondback rattlesnake) is a cocktail of
toxins that do different things — it’s a combination of toxins that eat
away at the tissue … there’s also neurotoxins (that attack the nerves) and
hemotoxins, so it affects the blood’s ability to clot.”
The amount of venom alters the effects. He said that Robinson likely
received a fairly large load, and that reactions can range from localized
pain to skin death and destruction to complete cardiovascular collapse.
First aid if you’re bitten
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, six of
Florida’s 44 native snake species are venomous: the eastern coral snake,
the southern copperhead, the cottonmouth, the eastern diamondback
rattlesnake, the timber rattlesnake and the dusky pygmy rattlesnake.
If one of them bites you, all the old wives’ tales are bunk, Abo said.
“You don’t keep the bite lower than the heart. You don’t do tourniquets or
anything compressive. You don’t hook up a car battery or tase it or use
electricity. You don’t cut and suck, or use any of those commercial
extractors. And no ice. Those methods will not only not help, they will
cause damage,” he said.
It’s extremely important to keep the bite elevated above your heart so the
toxins, which eat away at flesh, don’t remain concentrated in the
extremity. In other words, if a snake bites your leg, lie down and elevate
the leg.
The idea is to spread them out and weaken them. Keeping the wound below
your heart would exacerbate swelling as well, which delays healing. He
also implored people to not be afraid of the antivenom.
Pecori added that you should not take aspirin or anti-inflammatories,
because they can increase bleeding. He agreed with Abo’s advice, and said
the only time he would use a tourniquet on himself is if he was stuck in
the Australian outback, eight hours from the nearest hospital, and he was
bitten by an inland taipan, whose venom would shut down his airway.
In Florida, no tourniquets, he said. “Here, everyone is within 15 to 30
minutes of a hospital with antivenom, even if that requires a helicopter.”
Pecori said that the antivenoms work for cats and dogs, too, and some are
specifically made for pets. If your pet suffers a bite, he suggested
calling your vet, not 911.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
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