A 23-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl living in the same house, while sleeping, suddenly felt sharp pain in their feet, then had difficulty breathing, weak limbs, and were determined to have been bitten by a poisonous snake.
On June 20, a representative of Bac Giang General Hospital said two patients were admitted to the hospital with difficulty breathing, drooping eyelids, and weak limbs. The venomous snake that bit two people was identified as a garter snake, causing the patient to lose reflexes.
On June 20, Doctor Nguyen Thi Hieu, Deputy Head of the Department of Intensive Care – Poison Control, said that the female patient’s condition was very serious, with complete muscle paralysis, respiratory failure, quadriplegia, and loss of reflexes. , pupils dilated. In addition, both had respiratory failure and were intubated, mechanically ventilated, and hemodialysis was performed with a filter to eliminate toxins.
Luckily, after three dialysis sessions, the patient’s muscle paralysis improved. After a month of treatment with many active resuscitation methods, the two patients gradually improved, were weaned off the ventilator, and had their endotracheal tubes removed. Currently, the patient’s health is stable and he was discharged from the hospital.
Doctor treats patient. Image: Hospital provided
Doctor Hieu said that if a person is bitten by a garter snake, they can recover completely without any sequelae if they receive emergency treatment and timely treatment. On the contrary, the patient may die quickly due to respiratory muscle paralysis or be left with paralysis and permanent coma due to prolonged cerebral hypoxia.
Scorpions belong to the cobra family, have blue-black skin, have clear black and white cavities that follow each other, and live wild. The venom of the garter snake can cause neurotoxicity with symptoms of drooping eyelids, slurred speech, inability to swallow saliva, difficulty breathing and progression of apnea, death if not treated promptly.
When bitten by a snake, you need to be very calm, clean the bite wound to avoid infection, immobilize the bitten limb, place the limb lower than the heart and quickly take the victim to the nearest hospital for timely emergency treatment. time.
You should not cut the skin, squeeze the bite or apply leaves to the bite because it increases the risk of bleeding and infection. Avoid tying a tourniquet above the bite wound because it increases the risk of necrosis of the bitten limb. You need to note the snake’s characteristics or if you catch and kill the snake, bring it to the hospital to help the doctor determine the exact type of snake bite and decide on appropriate anti-snake venom serum treatment.