According to the patient’s mother, her son loves to raise animals and sometimes searches the internet. Two weeks before being admitted to the hospital, the child hid from family members and ordered three vipers online to raise. Around 3:30 p.m. on May 3, 2022, when changing the snake’s cage in a private room, while using an iron rod to pick up the snake to another box, the child was bitten on the index finger by a snake.
After the accident, the child ran to tell his family. When checking the nursery room, seeing 3 snakes in a box and hidden in the closet, the family was shocked and immediately took the child to the National Children’s Hospital for emergency.
“I just thought he liked to learn about animals online, I didn’t expect him to be able to buy this snake and raise it so easily,” the patient’s mother shared in shock.
A snake bite wound of a Hanoi boy after one day of treatment. Photo: BVNTW
TS.BS Le Ngoc Duy – Head of Emergency Department of Poison Control, National Hospital of Pediatrics said: The patient was admitted to the hospital in a state of consciousness but tired. Although he had just been bitten by a snake, his right hand was swollen, bruised and bleeding. index finger bleeding, pain…
The doctors determined that the child’s wound was caused by a venomous snake bite. After asking the patient, knowing that the child was bitten by a red-tailed viper at home, the doctors immediately decided to treat it with serum infusion of anti-viper venom, anti-inflammatory and antibiotics to prevent wound infection… Show later After one day of active treatment, the child’s health gradually stabilized and is expected to be discharged from the hospital in the next few days.
According to Dr. Duy, the red-tailed viper is one of the most powerful venomous snakes. Its level of toxicity is second only to the king cobra. Especially, when pregnant, the mother snake has a higher venom than normal. In snake venom there are more than 20 different components, moreover, the bite of this snake often bleeds a lot and swells very quickly. When bitten by a red-tailed viper, the victim may experience phenomena such as bleeding that is difficult to stop, blood clotting disorders, edema, necrosis, cardiovascular collapse, which can cause rapid death (due to anaphylaxis) or leave serious sequelae.
In our country, many species of ornamental snakes are sold at online pet stores. Stores often instruct how to raise snakes quite simply such as: just equip a box with a lid, design a cave, place a tray of water…
Dr. BS Le Ngoc Duy – Head of Emergency Department of Poison Control, National Children’s Hospital (far right) examines children’s health. Photo: BVNTW
However, unlike dogs, cats, and birds, which are familiar pets, snakes pose many risks, especially for young children who buy and raise snakes themselves. First, snakes are carnivores, often suffering from parasitic diseases such as worms, flukes, mites, fungal skin diseases, oral thrush that are easily transmitted to humans by daily contact. Next, the snake’s food is geckos, mice … intermediate animals that cause diseases such as plague are very dangerous to humans. In particular, young children who raise venomous snakes such as red-tailed vipers can be bitten, endangering their lives.
From the above risks, Dr. Duy recommends that parents should regularly care for their children, explain and not let children keep snakes as pets in the house.
First aid for snake bites:
According to TS.BS Le Ngoc Duy, when a child is bitten by a poisonous snake or suspected of being bitten by a venomous snake, it is necessary to take proper first aid measures such as:
– If bitten by a poisonous snake, immediately call the nearest emergency number to the nearest hospital for emergency treatment with a specific antivenom serum, especially when the wound has fangs or signs of discoloration. painful swollen head.
The red-tailed viper that the boy kept as a pet (Photo: provided by the patient’s family).
– While waiting for the help of medical staff, first aid steps should be taken when bitten by a venomous snake to slow down and limit the venom entering the body, such as moving the victim out of range. of the snake; keep calm and limit movement, preferably immobilize the bitten limb with a splint, to slow the spread of the venom; remove jewelry and loosen tight clothing to avoid putting pressure on the wound to begin to swell; position the bitten area below heart level, such as lying down, even while being transported to the hospital; clean the wound with soap and physiological saline; Use a clean, dry gauze pad to cover the bitten area.
Note: Do not use gauze bandage to tighten the bitten area, this way both hurts the victim and hinders blood circulation to the extremities causing necrosis. Do not arbitrarily apply cold, apply chemicals, apply leaves … on the wound. Remember the color of the snake so that the doctor can easily identify the type of snake to treat.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: Eva.vn – Read the original article here
