Friday 2 October 2015

Snake Venom and how it reacts to the body

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The snake venom contains proteolytic enzymes which destroy tissues and helps to disabling prey. Hyaluronidase destroy the mucopolysaccharides to let subcutaneous spread of the venom. The venom is hemotoxic which will affect blood cells, the heart, organs and also blood vessels. It causes inflammation and breakdown in the body, tissue damage, organ degeneration and disrupts blood clotting. When the victim tries to breath, they can feel the pain and the tissue starts to die after they got bitten. The hemotoxic venom helps the snake to digest the prey more easily. It also contains myotoxins and cytotoxins whch destroy muscles and cells which add to the failure of the cardiovascular system. The phospholipase A2 causes the hemolysis past estero lysis of red cell membrances and accelerate muscle necrosis. Thrombogenic enzymes produce a consumptive coagulopathy which leads to bleed. The amount of venom injected depends on how long the strike takes, it also depends on the size of the prey and the snake's degree of threat perceived. But there is exceptions such as the western diamondback rattlesnake can deliver a significant amount of venom in a bite.


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On above, you can see what the human blood looks like when mix with snake venom. The blood turns into solid form which shows that the venom coagulates the blood and will cause internal and also external bleeding in the body. 


http://www.mizoram.gov.in/Health-Care-CDAC-Kol-gksaha-v2.0/snake%20bite.gif

The photo on above shows the difference between a poisonous snake bite and a non-poisonous snake bite looks like. The bite from a poisonous snake appear in two fangs marks and it is large and deep and sometimes there might be some small marks at the back which is created by the other teeth. While for the non-poisonous snake bite, it appears 2 rows of teeth marks but not fangs mark. 
http://reference.medscape.com/features/slideshow/snake-envenomation
When the snake strikes, they inject the venom through their hollow fangs to the victim or prey. On above is an example of what the fangs marks looks like after a person got bitten by a poisonous snake.  The body reacts to the venom very quickly and in order to treat the snake bite, antivenom need to be injected to the body as it spread quickly to other parts of the body. 
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http://www.wildbackpacker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Snakebite_symptoms.png
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/140720/uploads/SnakeBiteGra.jpg


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Anitvenom:
Reactions might appear when injected larger volume of antivenoms to the body. Serum sickness occurs in around a third of patients injected antivenoms and they characterised symptoms such as fever, arthralgia, myalgia and rash developing four to fourteen days after administration of antivenom. The serum sickness can be treated with prednisolone. 

Symptoms after bitten by a venomous snake?
  • Swelling, blistering, bruising, dead tissue and redness in the location the person got bitten 
  • Pain 
  • Dropping eyelids
  • Feeling sick, dizzy, fainting and mental confusion, feeling nervous, shock
  • Difficulty in breathing 
  • Irregular heartbeat
  • Sweating
  • Swelling of the gums, lips and tongue
  • Diarrhoea
  • Internal and external bleeding 
  • Itchy lumps on the skin
  • Kidney failure which means little or no urine being passed
  • Some people might have allergic reaction and it will even make the condition of the snake bite more serious and worse
  • Death might caused if the victim did not treated the snake bite 
On below is a photo which shows what the patient's arms and fingers look like after 3 day he got bitten by a copperhead snake. You can see there is rapid swelling on the area he got bitten and redness, blisters and bruises were formed as well. 
http://img.medscape.com/pi/features/slideshow-slide/snake-envenomation/fig18.jpg
In the video on above, the victim was bitten by a rattlesnake and you can see his hand is swollen, the fang marks on his hand, he is sweating, there are worm like movements under his skin and his nose and gums were bleeding. The video also tells us that different human has different metabolism and different reactions to venom. And so every bite is different and unpredictable. 

On below is a photo which shows the victim's hand is swollen and there are pus, bruises and redness around the wound. 
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Recovery times varies depends of the species of the snake the victim was bitten by. An adder is an example of a venomous snake in Uk. In most cases, children who got bitten by an adder will make a full recovery in one to two weeks. While for adults, it will take a longer period of time and it usually take more than three weeks for a full recovery. Some people might even take longer and it might takes one to nine months. 

References:
  • http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)61754-2/fulltext?version=printerFriendly
  • http://lifeandscience.org/keepers/2011/02/13/no-such-thing-as-a-poisonous-snake-part-2/
  • http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/country-music-star-posts-horrific-6714692
  • http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Bites-snake/Pages/Treatment.aspx

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