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snakeluvver

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Well today my mum got bitten by a snake. The neighbor killed it (shame I know, but if it hadn't been killed they wouldnt have known what snake it was and my mum would have all kinds of tests), so she got rushed to hospital, thinking the snake was a brown snake, then they got there, looked at the snake and it was..... a yellow faced whip snake :rolleyes: TOTALLY harmless. All that worry for nothing. Ah well. And before anyone tells me they're venomous, she had a test and there is no venom in her system. Its been 6 hours since the bite, no symptoms whatsoever.
 
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Normally the doctors ignore any snakes brought in and use what is called a venom detection kit to work out the appropriate treatment. It requires a swap o the bite site takes about 10 minutes. Killing the snake is soo unnecessary.
 
Normally the doctors ignore any snakes brought in and use what is called a venom detection kit to work out the appropriate treatment. It requires a swap o the bite site takes about 10 minutes. Killing the snake is soo unnecessary.

The word normally in the first sentence contradicts the last. If one of my family got bitten by a brown snake and I thought killing it might stand even a remote chance of helping, I'd do the same. Glad to hear she's doing well snakeluvver
 
Yup she was in hospital for 10 mins. Got a test, no venom. But I think knowing what the snake looks like IS necessary, because my mum thought it was a brown snake, and if she told them that they'd have gone crazy with antivenom and stuff. So are Yellow Faced Whip Snakes venomous? Because they didnt find ANY venom in her system at all.
 
Yup she was in hospital for 10 mins. Got a test, no venom. But I think knowing what the snake looks like IS necessary, because my mum thought it was a brown snake, and if she told them that they'd have gone crazy with antivenom and stuff. So are Yellow Faced Whip Snakes venomous? Because they didnt find ANY venom in her system at all.

They are venomous but generally not fatal.

Many people can have just as bad a reaction to anti-venom as they would from the actual snake venom so it is administered as a last resort. They don't just test for venom and give you a few doses of the stuff straight away, it's only used if you start to go down hill.
 
Yup she was in hospital for 10 mins. Got a test, no venom. But I think knowing what the snake looks like IS necessary, because my mum thought it was a brown snake, and if she told them that they'd have gone crazy with antivenom and stuff. So are Yellow Faced Whip Snakes venomous? Because they didnt find ANY venom in her system at all.

read this CSL Antivenom Handbook - Snake Venom Detection Kit then tell me if the above quote sounds informed
 
They are venomous but generally not fatal.

Many people can have just as bad a reaction to anti-venom as they would from the actual snake venom so it is administered as a last resort. They don't just test for venom and give you a few doses of the stuff it's only used if you start to go down hill.
well im sure that after 6 hours she would be feeling ill if she was envenomated? are they rear fanged?
 
nar iv got two and there not rear fanged they can bite and it blody hurts its like a REALY bad bee sting.
 
well im sure that after 6 hours she would be feeling ill if she was envenomated? are they rear fanged?

There is such a thing as a dry bite. They are an elapid so they are front fanged. How small was this Yellow-Face?
I have been bitten by a captive one that I had....wasn't the most pleasant pain ever that for sure.
 
Snake Venom Detection Kits are general used to test swabs taken from the skin around the bite site, or from a piece of bandage also from around the bite site. This does NOT indicate that a person has been envenomated and has venom in their system, merely if venom is present in the swab which is why the pressure bandages are removed slowly and the patient monitored to see if systemic symptoms ensue.
Neither does it indicate what species a person has been bitten by rather which of immunotype the snake belongs to and therefore which antivenom is the correct one to use IF the patient becomes symptomatic.

It should also be noted that a large majority of snake bites are dry bites with no venom being released.

It is not necessary to kill the species or have it identified as it is not really relevant, what is important is to determine which is the correct antivenom to use for any particular bite, which is the purpose of the SVDK.
 
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well im sure that after 6 hours she would be feeling ill if she was envenomated? are they rear fanged?

No they're front fanged. Snakes can control whether they inject venom or not... No symptoms probably means she wasn't envenomated.
 
read this CSL Antivenom Handbook - Snake Venom Detection Kit then tell me if the above quote sounds informed
Sounds perfectly informed to me. Especially in this specific instance. I note in the footnotes:

2. Some other species of venomous Australian land snakes, not known to cause medically significant envenoming, may occasionally give a positive SVDK result. Notable examples of this phenomenon are the whip snakes.
Thank god they didn't rely on your method

Also, the presence of controls as well as the language used would be enough for anyone who has an inkling of statistical test design to know that there is the chance the test can be incorrect. There are no measures for either reliability or validity and thus I would be hesitant to trust that test. While that isn't exactly a research paper, rather than evidence your point I'm more convinced that snakeluvver's neighbour acted correctly having read that article.

Why did I somehow predict the thread would go this way? :(
 
Normally the doctors ignore any snakes brought in and use what is called a venom detection kit to work out the appropriate treatment. It requires a swap o the bite site takes about 10 minutes. Killing the snake is soo unnecessary.

I definitely agree with you but it also depends on the situation. If you lived 15 minutes drive from hospital, took 10 mins to get admitted and then a further 10 minutes for the test thats over half an hour from the time of bite. Not totally sure of how long it takes for the body to show systemic effects but I know it is a relatively small time-frame. Also, being a mother she might be older and more susceptible to rapid onset of adverse effects.
 
because my mum thought it was a brown snake, and if she told them that they'd have gone crazy with antivenom and stuff.

No they wouldn't. They would have waited to see IF she became symptomatic then administered whatever antivenom was indicated by the results of the SVDK. No symptoms - No antivenom.

Medical Treatment of snakebite


Its hard enough for knowledgable people here to identify some snakes, and you want a doctor who has no snake experience to identify a snake by a chart on the hospital wall and administer treatment based on that?
 
There is such a thing as a dry bite. They are an elapid so they are front fanged. How small was this Yellow-Face?
I have been bitten by a captive one that I had....wasn't the most pleasant pain ever that for sure.
Tiny, about 40cm long
 
Also would you ever rely on a doctor giving a accurate ID, some cant even tell that you have a shattered knee cap!!! As has been said they do a swab then wait to see the results and go from there. Anti venom is a last resort!
 
i think if i took a snake into the hospital i would have to treat myself as all the nurses would have left the room.

by law the hospital has to do the vdk to cover themselves from law suits and things, it doesn't even matter if it was a zoo keeper that went in and said it was a tiger snake, they still have to do the vdk before they can do anything.
 
No they wouldn't. They would have waited to see IF she became symptomatic then administered whatever antivenom was indicated by the results of the SVDK. No symptoms - No antivenom.

Medical Treatment of snakebite


Its hard enough for knowledgable people here to identify some snakes, and you want a doctor who has no snake experience to identify a snake by a chart on the hospital wall and administer treatment based on that?

This^^^^

I need to ask what were the circumstances of her being bitten?
 
Normally the doctors ignore any snakes brought in and use what is called a venom detection kit to work out the appropriate treatment. It requires a swap o the bite site takes about 10 minutes. Killing the snake is soo unnecessary.

I got bitten by a red belly and i told them that at the hospital,long story short they did a venom detection kit,which came back as Tiger snake,which apparently is the same as red belly anyhow...
 
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