You are going over a grid map with a group of senior cadets at a SAR exercise
in the Apalachicola
National Forest. Suddenly you hear cries and moans from a cadets
tent. You rush to the tent and find a
member of your team in extreme discomfort, curled into a fetal position,
complaining of severe cramps in her abdomen and lower back. Sweat drenches her and her skin appears
flushed and feels warm. You start to ask
her whats wrong, but before you can speak, she opens her mouth and splatters
the tent wall with vomit. Her pulse
races at 110 and is weak. Thinking
appendicitis or gastroenteritis, you quickly delegate two senior members to
carry her to a car and drive her to the nearest hospital.
What just happened?
The bites and stings humans receive from venomous critters vary greatly
in severity depending on the amount of venom injected and the sensitivity of
the victim. Here is some basic
information on just a few of the more dangerous creepy-crawlies in North West
Florida.
SPIDERS
The Black Widow spider is the most endemic spider in North West Florida
but rarely bites. The females venom is
15 times stronger than a rattlesnakes but her drop of poison is tiny. Sometimes, they do not inject any venom at all. She is rarely aggressive but may be touchy
during springtime mating and egg-tending days.
(You dont want to mess with a Black Widow with PMS!) People almost never feel the bite, although
some have reported sharp pain immediately.
Rarely does a victim see the spider that bites and if they do, the
natural instinct is to crush it immediately.
So positively identifying the spider is unlikely. But dont scurry around looking for the beast
or try to sort out the body parts in order to identify it. Pay attention to the victims symptoms! Let those determine what actions you should
take.
What You Would Most Likely See from a
Black Widow Bite:
There may be little or no redness and swelling at the site, but a
small, hard bump may form later. Within
an hour, symptoms usually begin. Pain
and anxiety become intense which accounts for those bitten thinking they are
surely going to die. Severe muscular
cramping often centers in the abdomen and back.
There may be a sensation of burning and numbness in the feet. Headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and
heavy sweating are all common reactions.
Only four deaths have been reported in the US in the last few decades. The fatalities are almost always the very
young, the very old or the very allergic.
What You Should Do:
Keep the victim as calm as possible.
If you can find the bite site which may show up as a faint, red mark
wash it with anything you have available; plain water or soap and water or an
alcohol jell. Cooling the injury with
water (not ice) using a wet compress or even a warm pack (whichever makes the
victim most comfortable) may help reduce the pain. Tylenol for pain, if available, would be
appropriate.
Evacuation to a medical facility is strongly advised, especially if you
are unsure what is causing the symptoms, just in case complications arise. Most spider bite patients receive painkillers
and 8 to 12 hours of observation at the hospital.
Brown Recluse Spider
Also known as the fiddleback or violin spider, the recluse prefers dark
and dry places and travels comfortably in the freight of trucks and trains. There have been no confirmed bites from a recluse spider in Florida since 1984. (Florida
Poison Control Network) They can be
found in any dark place in the home (including in your shoes or clothes!) and
under rocks, dead logs and pieces of bark in the wild. They attack more readily in the warmer
months, usually at night and only when disturbed.
Symptoms of a Brown Recluse Spider bite
As with most spider bites, initially the bite of the recluse is often
painless. Symptoms vary from no
significant symptoms to severe ulcerations of the skin and underlying
tissues. Discomfort may be felt
immediately after the bite or several hours after being bitten. Within 1 to 5 hours, a painful red blister
appears at the site. Watch for the
development of a bluish circle around the blister, and a red, irritated circle
beyond that the characteristic bulls-eye lesion of the recluse. The victim may suffer chills, fever, a
generalized weakness and a diffuse rash.
Sometimes the lesion resolves harmlessly over the next 1 to 2
weeks. Sometimes it spreads irregularly,
as an enzyme in the spiders venom destroys the cells of the victims skin and
subcutaneous fat. The ulcerous tissue
heals slowly and leaves a lasting scar.
What to do:
Without an eight-legged corpse as evidence, it is difficult to be sure
what is causing the victims problem.
There is little to be done other than calming the victim, applying cold
to the site to reduce pain, and keeping the wound as clean as possible. Skin breakdown tends to occur rapidly. (One doctor described it as seeing tissue
break down even as he watched.) Even if
you are not sure the cause of the symptoms, the victim should be seen by a physician
as soon as possible.
Snake Bites
Only three deaths have been reported in Florida by venomous snakes since 2000; two
from rattlesnakes and one from a coral snake.
The reasons for the low mortality rate are more than likely the
availability of effective antivenin and the relatively low toxicity of the
North American snakes. Arizona
is the most likely place to die of snakebite, with Florida,
Georgia, Texas,
and Alabama
in the top five. The most common
dangerous pit vipers in the Florida Panhandle are the Water Moccasin (also
called Cottonmouth) and the Diamondback, Canebrake and Pigmy Rattlesnakes. The other venomous snake is the Coral
snake.
How dangerous is this venom to a human?
That depends on (1) the age, size, health, and emotional stability of
the victim; (2) whether or not the victim is allergic to the venom, (3) where
the victim was bitten (near vital organs being the most dangerous); (4) how
deep the fangs go; (5) how upset the snake is; (6) the species and size of the
snake; (7) the amount of venom injected; and (8) the first aid given to the
victim.
Symptoms You May See From a Pit Viper
Snake Bite
Mild envenomations (injection of venom) hurt, swell and turn black and
blue within 30 minutes. Moderate
envenomations cause additional swelling that moves both down from the bite and up the
arm or leg toward the heart. Numbness and swollen lymph nodes may follow. Substantial blister formation is common
within 6 hours, as are weakness, nausea and vomiting. Sometimes victims report a rubbery or
metallic taste in their mouths. A
severe envenomation might cause a jump in heart rate and breathing rate,
profound swelling, blurred vision, headache, light-headedness, sweating and
chills.
Treatment for Pit Viper Bites
What to DO:
1.
Calm and reassure
the victim.
2.
Keep the victim
physically at rest, the bitten extremity immobilized and kept at heart level or
below.
3.
Remove rings,
watches or anything that might reduce circulation if swelling occurs.
4.
Wash the wound.
5.
Monitor swelling
at the site. This will give you an idea
of how serious the envenomation.
6.
Evacuate the
victim to the nearest medical facility by carrying, or going for help to carry,
or, if the victim is stable, by slow walking with frequent rest breaks.
7.
If the victim is
kept still, keep him/her warm.
8.
Keep the victim
well hydrated with clear fluids unless he or she develops vomiting.
What NOT to Do:
9.
Do not cut and suck!
But mechanical suction (not
oral suction) may help. The sooner
mechanical suction starts, the better (Within 5 minutes, MAX!). Suction should be applied for 30 minutes via
a negative pressure venom extraction device such as the Sawyer Extractor and without cutting. (A snakes fangs enter the skin, forming a
channel that curves inward at a 90 degree angle. Tissue then swells within minutes and closes
off the channels. Consequently, there is
a small possibility that suction may be able to pull some of the venom back up
the bite channel.)
10.
Do not give
painkillers.
11.
Do not apply ice or immerse the wound in cold water. (The cold constricts the blood vessels and
retains the venom in the site, increasing the chance of tissue damage. Applying cold has not been proven a problem,
however, with spider bites.)
12.
Do not apply
a tourniquet.
13.
Do not give
the victim alcohol to drink.
14.
Do not
electrically shock the victim. (An urban
legend!)
15. Do not put yourself or anyone else at
risk by attempting to identify the snake.
There is a high probability that an antivenin is available if
needed. (Knowing the fang patterns of
venomous snakes is helpful. For example;
a pit vipers fang marks would be one or two small puncture wounds, or more if
bitten more than once, whereas a coral snakes bite may look like a row of
small teeth marks or even mild scratches.)
Coral Snake Bite
Symptoms range from localized swelling, nausea and vomiting to
dizziness, weakness and respiratory difficulty.
It may take up to 12 hours for signs and symptoms to reach the point
where the victim wants help so early evacuation of the victim is strongly
advised. Walking out is OK. Although death by coral snake is rare, the
venom is more potent than almost all pit viper venom. Antivenin should be started as soon as
possible. Little additional first aid
works other than keeping the victim calm and cleaning the wound.
Note:
It is important to remember
that a snake only injects part of its venom with each bite, so it can still
hurt you after the first strike. A dead
snake, even one with a severed head, can bite and release venom by reflex action
for more than an hour after it dies.
Pressure-Immobilization for Neurotoxic
venom
Developed in Australia,
pressure-immobilization is a technique that involves wrapping elastic bandages
(like those used for sprained ankles) around the bite site, up the extremity
and back down the extremity and followed with some type of splint. Properly applied with about the same
pressure as wrapping a sprained ankle pressure-immobilization prevents the
spread of some types of neurotoxic venom until a hospital can be found. It has proven very effective as first aid for
snakebites in Australia
but remains untested on North American coral snake bites.
References:
o
Jay L. Schauben,
PharmD, Dir. of Florida Poison Information
Center, Jacksonville.
o
Wilderness
First Responder, Buck Tilton
FYI:
o
Poison Control Number for anywhere in the US: 1-800-222-1222
o
Florida Poison Information
Center / Jacksonville: 1-800-282-3171
o
BitesandStingsonline.com for more information on the
Sawyer Extractor Pump Kit
Heres a little backwoods wisdom from Jim Davis, 1st Lt., CAP,
our ex-Marine M/Sgt., Viet Nam vet and FL424s AMO. He should know!
Tick Removal: Apply a glob
of liquid soap to a cotton ball and swab it on the tick for about 15 20
seconds. The tick will come out on its
own and be stuck on the cotton ball when you lift it away. Check first to see if the person is allergic
to soap.
Next Month:
o
How to put a
First Aid Kit together for the field or in the air;
o
Whats in a CAP
First Aid Kit, how do you use the contents and
o
What do you do if
your first aid supplies are lost in the crash / accident?
