What Should You Do If You're Bitten by a Venomous Snake? [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

What Should You Do If You're Bitten by a Venomous Snake?
By Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | June 2, 2019 08:04am ET

Getting bitten by a venomous snake can be very scary, and can lead people to react in exactly the wrong way: Maybe they panic, try to catch or kill the snake, or apply ice or a tourniquet to the wound, which can be disastrous in certain situations.

So, how should a person respond to a bite? And what happens in the human body when a person is bitten by a venomous snake?

"The first thing to do is get away from the snake — don't try to capture it, that's just going to provide the potential for more people to get hurt," said Dr. Nicholas Kman, professor of emergency medicine at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. [The World's 6 Deadliest Snakes]

"And then, they should immediately seek medical treatment, because these symptoms can progress rapidly. We watch for redness, swelling, blistering, warmth and then signs of nausea, vomiting, muscle pain and low blood pressure," Kman told Live Science. "If we start to see those, we administer the antivenom.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/65614-what-if-bitten-by-snake.html