TAMPA, FL -- Bobby Waite runs a lawn business in Tampa and remembers the day a snake nailed him while on the job. He also remembers the day a water moccasin raced after him.
“He was coming so close to us I just cut his head off,” he recalls.
So it doesn't surprise him at all that a local man, out walking his dog around this Masters Inn, claims first a coral snake then a pygmy rattler bit him.
Hillsborough Fire and Rescue responded, and transported John Agan to UCH, but they couldn't' find the snakes. That's important because different poisonous snake bites require different anti-venin treatment.
Dr. Jim Maister, a pharmacist at UCH says knowing the kind of snake is important to treating the bite.
“The chemical makeup of the different snake’s venoms do different things. Some like the coral snake are neuromuscular toxins. Others, like the rattle snakes and pit vipers are hemotoxins where they affect the blood," he says.
Here are the symptoms for a pit viper bite:
- increasing pain at bite site
- rapid swelling
- twitching skin
- dizziness
- nausea
- sweating and numbness around the mouth
Some of the symptoms of a coral snake bite are different:
- pain at bite site
- drowsiness
- slurred speech
- double vision
- sweating
- nausea
- delirium
- seizures
Captain Bill Wade of Hillsborough Fire Rescue crews are usually first on the scene after a snake bite. His team follows these simple rules:
“If you believe someone has been bitten by a poisonous snake, sit them down and call 911. The operator will give you suggestions on what to do. Those include keeping a person still. The part that's been injured, keep it below the heart. You might remember the old cut and suck, where people would cut open the wound and suck the blood out. Don't do that. “
Captain Wade also says you shouldn't use ice or a tourniquet on snake bites.
