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Archives of The Cold Blooded NewsThe Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society
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Pressure/Immobilization as First Aid for Venomous Snakebite in the United Statesby David L. Hardy, Sr.Research Consultant As reprinted in the Cold Blooded News, Vol.25, No.10, October 1998. For the past 20 years. pressure/immobilization (P/I) has been used in Australia as first aid for elapid snakebite when medical care is distant. The extremity is wrapped firmly with an elastic bandage, and then immobilized with a splint. Venom is confined to the bite site, delaying systemic absorption during evacuation to a medical facility. Recently, P/I has been advocated in the United States for pitviper bites even though crotaline venom frequently results in pain, swelling, hemorrhage into tissues, and local necrosis. Fatal pitviper bites in the U.S. have been significantly reduced to less than 0.5%, whereas the morbidity of local necrosis, especially in finger bites, remains a major problem. For this reason, and the fact there are no clinical reports to support its use, physicians do not recommend P/I as first aid for pitviper bites in the U.S. A number of recent cobra bites in the U.S. and Canada with several fatalities suggests those keeping elapids should be prepared to use P/I if the species' venom produces paralysis rather than local necrosis and its use does not delay transport to a medical facility. The full article from this abstract is "in press" in Herp Review and should be out before the end of the year. Copyright © 1998 - 2006, Colorado Herpetological Society. All rights reserved. | ||
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