|
 Half of the 18,721 snakebites reported to U.S. poison control
centers from 2000 to 2013 involved venomous snakes, the study found.
Over that period, reported bites from copperheads surged by 137
percent and bites from other types of venomous snakes increased 107
percent.
These bites are rarely fatal – just four deaths were reported. But
one in five cases required admission to intensive care units, and
treatments may give some parents sticker shock.
“Treatment of a snakebite can cost easily more than $100,000 if
anti-venom is needed,” said lead study author Dr. Joann Shulte, a
pediatrics researcher at the University of Louisville in Kentucky.
“I'd suggest that children not go hiking or play in tall grass
during the summer without wearing appropriate shoes on their feet,”
Shulte, who did the research when she worked at Parkland Memorial
Health and Hospital System in Dallas, said by email.
“It is not uncommon at all for children to be bitten wearing flip
flops,” Shulte added.
Most snakebites, whether venomous or not, will cause some pain,
redness and irritation around the wound site, researchers note in
the journal Pediatrics.
Venomous bites can cause symptoms including swelling, death of
tissue around the injury, low blood pressure, convulsions,
hemorrhage, respiratory paralysis, kidney failure, coma and death.
Rapid emergency care and anti-venom treatment can minimize much of
the damage from snakebites, the authors note.
Overall, 38 percent of the snakebites required hospital admissions.
Summers appear to be the worst time of year for snakebites, with
one-third of these injuries reported in June and July.
More than two-thirds of the children and teens bitten by snakes were
boys.
Just over one third of bite victims were between 3 and 9 years old,
and another third were 10 to 14 years old.
While bites happened in all 50 states, they were concentrated in
four. Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia accounted for 39
percent of the bites.
One limitation of the study is that it only included snakebites
reported to poison control centers, which may not capture every
case, the authors note. It’s also possible the type of snakes
involved may have been misidentified in some instances.
[to top of second column] |
The study didn’t examine why reports of snakebite have shot up, but
Schulte said it’s difficult to know if more children are being
bitten because not all bites are reported to poison control centers
and it's possible reporting has increased rather than snakebites.
Bites from certain snakes, like copperheads, are probably being
reported more because anti-venom is being used and this often
requires guidance from toxicologists at poison control centers,
Schulte added.
Snakebites in children are rare, and usually random events, noted
Dr. Brendan Campbell, medical director of the Pediatric Trauma
Program at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford.
But the findings highlight the need for parents to take precautions
to prevent bites and act quickly when one is suspected, Campbell,
who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.
“Parents should have their children wear shoes while playing
outdoors (for reasons that go beyond preventing snakebites), and
never allow their children to approach or handle potentially
poisonous snakes,” Campbell said.
“The most important thing parents should do if their child is bitten
by a snake is (if possible) identify the type of snake, and take
their child to the nearest hospital, so local experts on snakebite
management can be consulted, and transfer to a pediatric trauma
center arranged for if necessary,” Campbell added.
Before anti-venom treatments became widely available, around one in
four snakebites were fatal, noted Dr. Fesih Aktar, a researcher at
Dicle University in Diyarbakir, Turkey, who wasn’t involved in the
study.
With rapid emergency interventions and anti-venom treatment,
however, less than 1 percent of snakebites are fatal, Aktar added by
email.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2dDA0IK Pediatrics, online October 20, 2016.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
