Snake bite treatment

Answer 1

1. Place a tourniquet between the bite and the heart. Loosen it every 15 minutes.

2. Get victim to doctor immediately for an antivenin shot.

3. If you are in an isolated area where no doctor is available, give the shot to yourself.

Keep the victim as still as possible.

Moving around spreads the poison through the body faster Have the victim lie down quietly.

Do NOT give stimulants (Coffee, whiskey, any alcoholic drink.) They also spread the poison faster.

Get medical help as quickly as you can.

If there is no phone to call for help, carry the victim to the nearest phone or doctor.

Edit: Sorry - I disagree with the use of a tourniquet. An incorrectly applied one is dangerous and can lead to gangrene in the affected limb. It also depends on what type of venom has been injected as to the effectiveness of the tourniquet. The better solution would be a pressure bandage over the bite area. Additionally - the bite area should be lower than the heart- to slow the spread of the venom through the circulatory system. Placing the patient in a sitting position will do this better than lying the patient down. Snakester1962 (Supervisor)

Answer 2

In the Wild West days, they cut an X incision right in the middle of the fang marks as quickly as possible and try to suck as much blood as possible. Most people know by then that keeping the area of the bite below the level of the heart is important. Too many of these encounters have occurred to make people realize way back then to keep a snake bite victim calm in order to avoid elevating their heart rate and accelerating the circulation of venom within the body.

NOTE: We are discussing the 1800's Westward-Ho approach to curing a rattlesnake bite...which is different from the modern technique we use nowadays. We are not here to prove what technique is right or wrong, merely how it was back then. A rattlesnake bite is always a potentially fatal injury. Untreated rattlesnake bites, especially from larger species, are very often fatal. However, antivenom, when applied in time, reduces the Death Rate to less than 4%. It is estimated that between 7,000 and 8,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes in the United States each year, and about five of those die.

Source(s):An intelligent man from Yahoo answers. :P

Answer 3

I hear that some poisonous snake bites can be cured with the snake's own venom. Somehow, they can turn the venom into medicine to cure the bite. The venom has to come from the snake that attacked.

Answer 4

They would usually wrap some bandages around the wound tightly. They would also consume a relatively large amount of whiskey, as it dulls the pain.