wilderness snakebite survival

[Grannyhiker]

What I was told by my-son-in-law-the-ER-physician: Any suction device, including the Sawyer Extractor, will bruise the tissue and thus actually aid the venom in breaking down blood vessel walls. He said absolutely not, an opinion echoed by my WFA course instructors.

At least as of two years ago (when I last researched this whole issue) the only scientific evaluation of the Sawyer device available was on the Sawyer website, which makes it really suspect IMHO.

I agree that most of us feel that we need to DO SOMETHING when something like this happens, but all these old-fashioned treatment methods do more harm than good.

This is one of the reasons I carry a PLB when backpacking alone. The main reason, of course, is to keep family and friends off my case. Call it psychological weight saving!

I'm actually more worried about my dog's being bitten. I can't use the PLB to summon help for him, and there's no way I could carry out 70 lbs. of dog!

[retired jerry]

I fixed the field guide, thanks sloth, and welcome

Hopefully it doesn't say anything that could possibly lead someone astray.

[Koda]

I didn't know those safety topics existed here, being buried in the field guide. (Those are exactly the kind of "articles" I was hoping for stickied in a forum topic like this one... where a discussion thread like this one warranted an update

For any topic like "outdoor safety" to work, it would have to not allow comments/discussion... essentially an article now. Otherwise there is no point. If someone had a comment or question, they would have to start a new topic in the forum referencing the article. Changes to the article would only be done by the contributing owners.

)
anyways....

Interesting, there is enough compelling evidence here to warrant updating the field guide article.... I'm willing to learn more but concluding the information here in this thread so far correct, and that includes NOT using any suction device.

Also, I think the best, and only "snake kit" is a PLB... which I don't own one, but chalk up one point for buying one.

[retired jerry]

"Also, I think the best, and only "snake kit" is a PLB"

What you need is a device that you can send a text message via satelite that includes your GPS location.

I just saw a Delorme product that does this, but you have to buy two units, a GPS and a communication device. $600. I don't know if there's also an annual fee. I don't know if it really works.

We're almost there - wait a couple years

[Lurch]

Suction for venomous snakebite: a study of "mock venom" extraction in a human model.
Alberts MB, Shalit M, LoGalbo F.
Source: Department of Emergency Medicine, University Medical Center, University of California, San Francisco, Fresno 93702, USA. [email protected]

Abstract
STUDY OBJECTIVE:
We determine the percentage of mock venom recovered by a suction device (Sawyer Extractor pump) in a simulated snakebite in human volunteers.
METHODS:
A mock venom (1 mL normal saline solution, 5.0 mg albumin, 2.5 mg aggregated albumin) radioactively labeled with 1 mCi of technetium was injected with a curved 16-gauge hypodermic needle 1 cm into the right lateral lower leg of 8 supine male volunteers aged 28 to 51 years. The Sawyer Extractor pump was applied after a 3-minute delay, and the blood removed by suction was collected after an additional 15 minutes. A 1991 Siemens Diacam was used to take measurements of the radioactive counts extracted and those remaining in the leg and body.
RESULTS:
The "envenomation load," as measured by mean radioactivity in the leg after injection, was 89,895 counts/min. The mean radioactivity found in the blood extracted in the 15 minutes of suction was 38.5 counts/min (95% confidence interval [CI] -33 to 110 counts/min), representing 0.04% of the envenomation load. The postextraction leg count was less than the envenomation load by 1,832 counts/min (95% CI -3,863 to 200 counts/min), representing a 2.0% decrease in the total body venom load.
CONCLUSION:
The Sawyer Extractor pump removed bloody fluid from our simulated snakebite wounds but removed virtually no mock venom, which suggests that suction is unlikely to be an effective treatment for reducing the total body venom burden after a venomous snakebite.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14747805

[jdemott]

Thanks, Lurch. That is what I guessed--after a few minutes, most of the "venom" will have been dispersed by the normal circulatory processes of the body and local suction would have no chance of removing it. Realistically, I can't imagine that anyone in the field faced with an actual snakebite could locate the suction device and apply it sooner than a couple minutes.

[potato]

Imagine that you carried the suction device in the front waist pocket of your backpack whenever you walked through tall grass or other snake habitat, and could realistically apply the tool within 20 seconds. I wonder how much more effective it would be without the 3 minute delay?

[Helen]

Do not attempt to capture or kill the snake....

This made me smile. The thought of capturing the snake would be the farthest thing from my mind.

I agree with others, this is another good reason to carry a PLB. Until recently, I didn't realize a rattler bite could be fatal to adults.

[joerunner]

Where in Oregon would one find Rattlesnakes?

[Grannyhiker]

Drier areas. A few have been spotted on Dog Mountain, and they definitely inhabit points east. Generally our rattlers are pretty shy and not aggressive (unless provoked). They want to get away from you if they can. Prevention (watch where you're putting hands and feet) is the key. Except for a few captive ones, I have not seen a rattler since my first backpacking trip when I was six (that was in Pennsylvania). They may have been around, but I didn't see or hear them, even though I was watching out for them. Rattlers are quite beneficial in that they definitely keep down the rodent population.