Najakcharmer
Posts: 2121
Joined: 5/3/2004 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: popeye1250 Also, I was wondering why they consider a bite from a Coral more "serious" than a Copperhead or Cotton Mouth? Micrurus fulvius is a pretty little thing, and generally docile, with teeny tiny fangs (1-2mm) that can deliver a sub-q injection to human skin, just barely, but cannot penetrate shoes, gloves or clothing. Bites to dogs and cats are almost invariably in the mouth, as they can't bite through fur either. That's the good news. The bad news is that if you are bitten, it's quite a serious neurotoxin that can shut your body down and you won't be breathing without assistance. Onset of symptoms can be delayed for many hours, leading to the annoyingly common scenario of a patient presenting for snakebite and being discharged a few hours later with no symptoms, then crashing suddenly (and sometimes irreversibly) up to 19 hours later when they are at home and perhaps asleep. The even more fun part is that the production of Micrurus fulvius antivenom is largely fucked at the moment, and existing stocks are dwindling, The good news is that spending a few days (or possibly weeks) on a ventilator can often get a patient through just fine, whether the patient is human, canine or feline. We have another coral species in the US, Micruroides euryxanthus, but bites are rare and they are not nearly as dangerous. Deaths have not been recorded from this species. There is no specific antivenom but the existing Micrurus serum - if you can find some - is considered effective. Bites from our local Agkistrodon (cottons and coppers) are cytotoxic and tissue destructive, the former much more so than the latter, but won't paralyze you or make you stop breathing. They can definitely ruin your day, or even your life, since it's not too uncommon for the outcome of a cottonmouth bite to a distal extremity to be the loss of that extremity, either in whole or part, or permanent impairment of function. Copperhead bites are generally managed conservatively without antivenom, and outcomes are generally good barring pre-existing health complications. Death from copperhead bite would be almost unheard of, and death from cottonmouth bite fairly difficult to achieve without horrendous bad fortune (say, an extremely rare intravenous bite) or significant pre-existing medical conditions.
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