Australian Snake Bite - this Eastern Brown snake is aggressive and quite deadly.
Just the thought of an Australian Snake Biteis enough to put fear into the pit of most people’s stomachs.
One of the most frightening things that could happen to anyone is to fall victim to a poisonous snake, and here in Australia, our snakes include some of the most venomous snakes in the world.
Emergency First Aid for an Australian Snake Bite
Lay the casualty down, and keep their bitten leg or arm level with the rest of their body… not higher and not lower, if you can help it. You don’t want to encourage the poison to flow from the arm or the leg into the injured person’s body.
Place the casualty at total rest, and try to calm both them and yourself. (Staying calm slows the heart, and therefore it will slow down the spread of the snake’s poison from the bite location through to the casualty’s body.)
Do not use a tourniquet, ever! A tourniquet will stop all blood flow and oxygen, and therefore it will kill the tissue in the injured limb as well. That is very bad. Instead you should restrict the flow of snake venom by applying a pressure bandage round and around the whole limb. Carefully wind the bandage in an overlapping spiral fashion. For the leg, this would mean winding a pressure bandage from from toes to groin; and for the arm it would be wound around from fingers to armpit.
Improvise! You can tear clothing, a bed sheet or sleeping-bag-liner into strips. If the material is slightly elastic (if it stretches), so much the better. An elastic bandage, such as those used for sprains, is perfect for dealing with snake bite, so use that if you have one, but don’t waste time. Every minute counts, and you are in a race to try and beat the poison.
If you have a cellphone or mobile phone, call 000 (the Australian emergency number) or dial 112 on the cellphone. Calling 911 does not work in Australia. Tell the emergency operator you have an snake bite emergency, and need an ambulance urgently. (And please be ready to explain exactly where you are. The Australian emergency operator will start by asking you what state (in Australia) you are calling from. If you have a GPS with you, give those co-ordinates to the operator as well. The information should help to speed the rescue.
In the Australian Outback, when there is no hospital within several hundred miles, contact the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) by telephone or HF radio (short wave radio), if you have it. You might be able to reach help via a CB, but it is very unlikely, and I would never bet a person’s life on it.
While waiting for help, check regularly that the pressure bandage is not too tight. Any movement by the casualty will pump more venom through their blood vessels.
If the casualty stops breathing, you will need to do CPR
Observe the snake bite victim closely. If they lose consciousness, gently roll them on their side and keep the mouth open. Pull the lower jaw out a bit and tilt the head slightly back. Remove any dentures from their mouth, and be ready to clear any obstruction or vomit with your fingers. This is no time to be squeamish. Wear rubber or latex gloves if you have them, to protect both you and the casualty.
If your patient stops breathing, you will need to start CPR cardio pulmonary resuscitation to keep them breathing until the ambulance gets to you and takes over.
The hospital will have anti-venine, which neutralizes most snake poison. But it helps the doctors greatly if you can identify the type of snake. Also, you wouldn’t really want find out later that the snake was harmless, would you?
Fortunately, snake bite is rare, and snake bite deaths are even rarer. The people who get bitten are usually snake handlers who get careless, or untrained amateurs who try to catch or kill a snake, any snake, Australian or otherwise.
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