Get anti-venom shot, no home

remedy for snake bites - PHO

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol Oct 17 (PIA)—There is no such thing as a home remedy for snake bites, bite victims have to be brought to the nearest facility for immediate medical attention, says Provincial Health Office (PHO) In Charge Dr. Fruserma Mary Uy.

Herself a practicing physician and community doctor, Dr. Uy joined the community in bemoaning the loss of a child who unfortunately died without getting the necessary anti-venom that could have saved the victim from certain death.

Las Tuesday, a child got bitten by a venomous snake, but culture would have it, instead of getting the quickest medical attention needed from a first aid facility, the victim’s family decided to get an alternative treatment.

“The family can bring the patient to wherever they believe could help them, but we insist that they have to come first and get the immediate care and the anti-venom shots from a facility, then they can get whatever it is they want” Dr. Uy said.

As a medical professional, she discouraged other alternative measures including the very dangeours sucking by mouth of the venom, or the traditional practice of rubbing garlic, putting in a tourniquet to stop the blood circulation and this the venom’s circulation or resorting to a quack medicine.

“Snake venom can have different effects on humans depending on their antibodies,” the physician said.

Some venom can take its effect in the immediate bite area, where rotting can happen, or the venom can get to the nervous system where it can cause issues with blood clotting, or eventual paralysis leading to difficulty in breathing.

“In certain instances, the neurotoxins can get to the victim’s leading to immediate death when the venom shuts down vital body functions,” she added.

In the case of the bitten child, Dr. Uy, who did a case investigation said the family took nearly two hours to bring the victim to the hospital, preferring to consult with traditional medicine, before getting the victim to the hospital in Loon.

The OIC PHO also said there is an antivenom stocked at the Gallares Hospital, about 30 minutes away from Loon.

While there was a time when Bohol had problems keeping the hard to secure anti-venom in at least a facility here, the Department of Health has kept its stock of anti-venom at the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital, the OIC PHO shared.

Snake bites, which can be very fatal, is already a part of the local preparations, considering that snakes are in the environment, so that preparations for bites have to be in place, at the right time, the government physician pointed out.

Snake bites, while many of them can be non-venomous, some of them especially in the tropics can be fatal that stories of getting killed in 8 minutes, 8 hours or 8 days from the biting moment, abound.

Italicizing the critical time for the venom to be rendered ineffective within the first 4 hours after the biting incident to increase the chances of saving the victim, Dr. Uy explained that the antivenom usually takes its effect within the first ten minutes.

“To this, it is important that even bringing the bite victim to the nearest medical facility can spell life and death,” she said.

While the nearest facility, (which in this case is Loon,) may not necessarily have an anti-venom stocked necessary for immediate inoculation, the facility can help in the first aid, to ease the effects of the biting.

To save limb when the bitten area starts to have necrosis, an immediate amputation can help the victim, or when the biting has caused difficulty in breathing, a tracheostomy, may save the life.

A tracheostomy is when a slit is opened in the bite victim’s windpipe to allow air to get to the lungs and facilitate breathing, so the victim can survive until the anti-venom can be administered.

In the case of the child bite victim from Loon, Dr. Uy said that the family took almost two hours to get to the facility in Loon, trusting the fate of the victim to the undocumented folk medicine, that the loss of critical time to save the victim ran out. (RAHC/PIA_7/Bohol)

WEAR PROPER PROTECTION. While snakes are endemic in the tropics, people whose work bring them close to a snake encounter need to wear proper protection: work boots, jackets and thick pants, to be protected. For bite victims, OIC PHO Dr. Fruserma Mary Uy recommends immediately bringing the victim to the nearest hospital facility for immediate care or until the victim can get the anti-venom shots. (PIABohol)