Bitten by a mojave green rattlesnake in Philly

[Western30]

If I were bitten by a mojave green rattlesnake in Philadelphia..

Well lets understand the facts first.
First of all, a Mojave green rattle snake's bite is no less toxic, or more toxic in Philadelphia than it is anywhere else...
There will be the exact same neurotoxicity, the exact same symptoms, and the exact same need for emergency medical treatment.

But here's where the critical differences may be.

The Police and Paramedics in Philadelphia, are used to suspecting things like illegal drugs, alcohol, and responding to and treating knife wounds and gunshot wounds..
Unlike in the Mojave Green's native home.

So what would the likelihood be, that if I were a victim of a Mojave Green, in a place like Philadelphia..


1. The Philadelphia Police, trained to deal with drug addicts and suspect drugs / alcohol... would mistake my Neurotoxic envenomation, for some kind of illegal drug... take me to jail... and I die of snake envenomation in the cop's "drunk tank"...
Or be taken to a psychiatric unit... after being mistaken for a severely neurologically disabled person, in need of being identified and taken back home... and of course, I die in the Psych ward.

2. Even if I were taken to the hospital.... the Philadelphia Fire Department would make a series of mistakes, one right after another, like a total cliché....
Like taking my symptoms far less seriously than what is warranted, not bringing antivenin / CroFab, or not being equipped at all with it...
Misdiagnosing the snakebite, misrepresenting the species of snake to the hospital staff....
Failing to identify the snake, or having the complete inability to identify the snake.. academically.

And that sort of thing.
And I die that way.

3. The hospital staff gives me too little antivenin... or they are not equipped with it, and the nearest supply of the right antivenin is at worst... thousands of miles away... and it can take hours to reach me... if rushed to me by flight..

And in that case, I could end up permanently disabled, or dead.


What is the likelihood of that sort of thing going on... if somebody happened to be bitten in a place like Philly ?

 

[Western30]

I figure that's the reason why exotic snakes, or exotic pets in the wrong places should be illegal.

 

[The Professor]

Mohave Green Rattlesnakes are so named because they are found in the Mohave Desert area; however, for the purpose of this discussion I will assume that you might be bitten by this snake in Philadelphia.

I don't know why you fear being misdiagnosed. If you are conscious you would simply tell the doctor that you were bitten by a rattlesnake and show him where. Given that information, every doctor in the country would treat you for snake bite. Even if you were unconscious, a routine physical examination would reveal the bite marks and since your symptoms would be synonymous with a poisonous snake bite they would treat you accordingly. As far as I know it doesn't matter what type of snake bit you. The venom of certain snakes requires a very specific antivenom; however, none of these snakes are found in the United States. The bites of poisonous snakes indigenous to the United States, including the Mohave Green Rattlesnake, can be treated with a common antivenom.

I don't think antivenom availability will be a problem. I read somewhere that the medical establishment has a database showing where antivenom supplies are located and they have access to a transportation system that can get the product where it is needed and when it is needed.

You appear to have very little faith in the medical community and you must have good reason for the way you feel; however, in this particular case I don't think your worries are justified.

 

[blastoff]

Relax, fortunately you're in Philly. All you have to do is smear the bite area with peach pie, send for fbj, and he'll suck the venom out while lapping up his favorite pie flavor.

 

[WinterBorn]

On average, 5 people per year die of venomous snake bite in the US. Seems to me, if this scares you so much, you are a nervous wreck anyway.

 

[Western30]

On average, 5 people per year die of venomous snake bite in the US. Seems to me, if this scares you so much, you are a nervous wreck anyway.

deaths from it, and the number of cases total are different, and the distribution of cases across the USA are also wildly different.
Florida, the Southwest and Southern California have more cases than the rest of the USA combined as well as the most toxic cases.

The number of people who didn't die, is thanks to treatment.

The number of deaths, is thanks to a whole host of reasons, not getting treated, inadequate treatment, the wrong treatment, the severity of the case, allergic reactions to the venom or the medications, or both....
And the person's genetic response to any medical treatment at all, and their level of ability to survive damage, and so on.

 

[WinterBorn]

On average, 5 people per year die of venomous snake bite in the US. Seems to me, if this scares you so much, you are a nervous wreck anyway.

deaths from it, and the number of cases total are different, and the distribution of cases across the USA are also wildly different.
Florida, the Southwest and Southern California have more cases than the rest of the USA combined as well as the most toxic cases.

The number of people who didn't die, is thanks to treatment.

The number of deaths, is thanks to a whole host of reasons, not getting treated, inadequate treatment, the wrong treatment, the severity of the case, allergic reactions to the venom or the medications, or both....
And the person's genetic response to any medical treatment at all, and their level of ability to survive damage, and so on.

Yes, there are far more bites than deaths. But the bites still only run to around 7,000 to 8,000 per year. Which, in a population of 320 million is a pretty tiny amount. And I would be that 99% of them involve someone doing something stupid.

 

[miketx]

People should carry their own snake so they can defend.

 

[Western30]

On average, 5 people per year die of venomous snake bite in the US. Seems to me, if this scares you so much, you are a nervous wreck anyway.

deaths from it, and the number of cases total are different, and the distribution of cases across the USA are also wildly different.
Florida, the Southwest and Southern California have more cases than the rest of the USA combined as well as the most toxic cases.

The number of people who didn't die, is thanks to treatment.

The number of deaths, is thanks to a whole host of reasons, not getting treated, inadequate treatment, the wrong treatment, the severity of the case, allergic reactions to the venom or the medications, or both....
And the person's genetic response to any medical treatment at all, and their level of ability to survive damage, and so on.

Yes, there are far more bites than deaths. But the bites still only run to around 7,000 to 8,000 per year. Which, in a population of 320 million is a pretty tiny amount. And I would be that 99% of them involve someone doing something stupid.

Actually most bites are not from deliberate handling, or mishandling of the snakes... but are in fact accidental, and most victims have never seen the snake until after being bitten.
Most people who are bitten by a snake that they are handling, are of course sometimes,
zoo keepers and animal control... but most often those victims are kids.

Only a small fraction, if any in some years... are adults with pet venomous snakes.

 

[WinterBorn]

On average, 5 people per year die of venomous snake bite in the US. Seems to me, if this scares you so much, you are a nervous wreck anyway.

deaths from it, and the number of cases total are different, and the distribution of cases across the USA are also wildly different.
Florida, the Southwest and Southern California have more cases than the rest of the USA combined as well as the most toxic cases.

The number of people who didn't die, is thanks to treatment.

The number of deaths, is thanks to a whole host of reasons, not getting treated, inadequate treatment, the wrong treatment, the severity of the case, allergic reactions to the venom or the medications, or both....
And the person's genetic response to any medical treatment at all, and their level of ability to survive damage, and so on.

Yes, there are far more bites than deaths. But the bites still only run to around 7,000 to 8,000 per year. Which, in a population of 320 million is a pretty tiny amount. And I would be that 99% of them involve someone doing something stupid.

Actually most bites are not from deliberate handling, or mishandling of the snakes... but are in fact accidental, and most victims have never seen the snake until after being bitten.
Most people who are bitten by a snake that they are handling, are of course sometimes,
zoo keepers and animal control... but most often those victims are kids.

Only a small fraction, if any in some years... are adults with pet venomous snakes.

When I said it involved someone doing something stupid, I did not necessarily mean handling the venomous snake. Although, of the 3 people I know personally who were bitten by a venomous snake, 2 were messing with a snake they had "killed". 1 of them was messing with the head they had cut off of a mocassin.

No, most snake bites, I would think, involve sticking your hands where you can't see, not paying attention to where you step in the woods ect ect.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

People should carry their own snake so they can defend.

There's not even a Second Amendment right to carry a snake

 

[miketx]

People should carry their own snake so they can defend.

There's not even a Second Amendment right to carry a snake

We need to pass a law....

 

[miketx]

The reptilian amendment.

 

[miketx]

The reptilian amendment.

Congress can write the new amendment and then if need be, it can be "scaled" back.

 

[Western30]

On average, 5 people per year die of venomous snake bite in the US. Seems to me, if this scares you so much, you are a nervous wreck anyway.

deaths from it, and the number of cases total are different, and the distribution of cases across the USA are also wildly different.
Florida, the Southwest and Southern California have more cases than the rest of the USA combined as well as the most toxic cases.

The number of people who didn't die, is thanks to treatment.

The number of deaths, is thanks to a whole host of reasons, not getting treated, inadequate treatment, the wrong treatment, the severity of the case, allergic reactions to the venom or the medications, or both....
And the person's genetic response to any medical treatment at all, and their level of ability to survive damage, and so on.

Yes, there are far more bites than deaths. But the bites still only run to around 7,000 to 8,000 per year. Which, in a population of 320 million is a pretty tiny amount. And I would be that 99% of them involve someone doing something stupid.

Actually most bites are not from deliberate handling, or mishandling of the snakes... but are in fact accidental, and most victims have never seen the snake until after being bitten.
Most people who are bitten by a snake that they are handling, are of course sometimes,
zoo keepers and animal control... but most often those victims are kids.

Only a small fraction, if any in some years... are adults with pet venomous snakes.

When I said it involved someone doing something stupid, I did not necessarily mean handling the venomous snake. Although, of the 3 people I know personally who were bitten by a venomous snake, 2 were messing with a snake they had "killed". 1 of them was messing with the head they had cut off of a mocassin.

No, most snake bites, I would think, involve sticking your hands where you can't see, not paying attention to where you step in the woods ect ect.

Sorry, I was away....
It would be stupid to be messing around with a freshly killed snake, I heard that their heads actually live for hours after being severed from its body.