A new study identifies key mistakes snake-bite victims are making before and after being bitten by venomous snakes. The study, which recently published in Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, examined 20 years of medical records for snake envenomations at a major academic medical center in Florida.
The first mistake that about one-third of these patients made was intentionally interacting with a wild venomous snake. That’s right—researchers say that about one in every three snake-bite victims admitted to the medical center during the study period (2002-2022) were messing with a snake on purpose.
“Male adults were the most envenomated, with two-thirds of this cohort having been bitten on the hand and one-third intentionally interacting with a wild snake,” the study says.
The second key mistake, according to the research, is that many patients took too long to get help, and many snake-bite victims attempted to self-treat their wounds. This goes against experts’ advice to seek medical treatment immediately after a snake bite.
“After being bitten, 10% of patients attempted contraindicated self-treatments,” the study says. “Although 2.03 [hours] elapsed prior to patients encountering a healthcare provider, there was no correlation between patients’ distance from the hospital and their time until arrival. An additional 4.22 [hours] elapsed prior to administration of antivenom, and three patients died during hospitalization.”
In other words, snake-bite victims on average took too long to get professional medical help, and their arrival times did not correlate with their distance from the hospital. Also, one in 10 victims tried to treat the bite themselves using methods like suction venom removal or a tourniquet.
Even though this particular study only looks at the state of Florida, these mistakes made by snake-bite victims over a 20-year period can be a lesson to everyone. Don’t approach or handle venomous snakes in the wild, and, if bitten, skip the outdated tourniquet and suction advice and get yourself to the hospital ASAP.