PREVENTION
The snake is almost always more scared of you than you are of the snake. Giving the snake the opportunity to escape prevents most bites.
- Do not attempt to handle, capture, or tease venomous snakes or snakes of unknown identity.
- Avoid drinking. Snakebites are often associated with alcohol use.
- Wear boots and long pants. Also strong long gloves when you use your hands.
SNAKEBITE TREATMENT
Even a bite from a non-venomous snake requires excellent wound care. The victim needs a tetanus booster if he or she has not had one within 5 years. Wash the wound with large amounts of soap and water. Inspect the wound for broken teeth or dirt.
Take the following measures:
- Prevent a second bite or a second victim. Snakes can continue to bite and inject venom with successive bites until they run out of venom.
- Identify or be able to describe the snake, but only if it can be done without significant risk for a second bite or a second victim.
- Safely and rapidly transport the victim to an emergency medical facility unless the snake has positively been identified as harmless (non-venomous). Remember, misidentification could be fatal. A bite without initial symptoms can still be dangerous or even fatal.
- Provide emergency medical care within the limits of your training.
- Remove constricting items on the victim, such as rings or other jewellery, which could cut off blood flow if the bite area swells.
- Apply a splint to the affected limb. If you do apply a splint, remember to make sure the wound does not swell enough to make your splint a tourniquet, cutting off the blood flow. Check to make sure toes and fingers are still pink and warm, that the limb is not going numb, and that pain is not getting worse.
- The two guiding principles for care often conflict during evacuation from remote areas.
First, the victim should get to an emergency care facility as quickly as possible because anti-venom (medicine to counteract the poisonous effects of the snake's venom) could be life-saving.
Second, the affected limb should be used as little as possible to delay absorption of the venom.
DO NOT:
- Do NOT cut and suck. Cutting into the bite site can damage underlying organs, increase the risk of infection, and does not result in venom removal.
- Do NOT use ice. Ice does not deactivate the venom and can cause
- Do NOT use electric shocks. The shocks are not effective and could cause burns or electrical problems to the heart.
- Do NOT use alcohol. Alcohol may deaden the pain, but it also makes the local blood vessels bigger, which can increase venom absorption.
- Do NOT use tourniquets or constriction bands. These have not been proven effective, may cause increased tissue damage, and could cost the victim a limb.
EMERGENCY NUMBERS:
Call Georgia Shohilou on site. She is a holder of a First Aid Certificate: 99171405
199
112
Lefkara Police Station: 24804480
Kofinou Police Station: 24804380
