Australian medical workers are pleading with snake-bite victims to stop bringing the reptiles to the hospital with them. That sounds like it should be common sense, right? But apparently people are thinking that bringing the snake with them will help medical workers determine what kind of care they need.
Adam Michael, director of emergency medicine at Bundaberg Hospital, told the Australian Broadcasting Company that emergency workers at Bundaberg Hospital and other facilities in Queensland’s Wide Bay region have had to deal with several venomous snakes this year because people who suffered snake bites thought bringing the reptile in would help determine if they needed anti-venom.
In early April, someone brought in an eastern brown snake, which is extremely venomous, in a plastic food container after being bit. Michael said the plastic container containing the snake was not well-secured. “The staff got a fright and the serious consequence of that is it delays people’s time to treatment,” he explained.
According to Michael, snake-bite victims put themselves at more risk bringing in the reptile. “Any attempts to either get close to a snake to catch or to kill, or to photograph the snake, just puts people at risk,” he said.
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Geoff Isbister, a clinical toxicology researcher at the University of Newcastle, says medical workers know how to treat a snake bite without seeing the reptile.
“We can determine if you need anti-venom and, if so, what anti-venom you need based on clinical signs, blood tests, and also the snake venom detection kits that we keep here at the hospital,” he said.
