A call to the Poison Control Center taught Robert Chapman, 70, what years of Scouting failed to: Snake bite kits don't work.
This fall, the former Scoutmaster bought a snake-bite kit that consisted of a scalpel to cut open the wound and two sizes of suction cups to suck out the venom. After calling the University of Utah emergency room for more information about treating snake bites, Chapman found out that the kit, which sells for less than $10, was not only useless but possibly dangerous.A snake bite shouldn't be cut open, according to Jim Glen, who researches snakes at the Veterans Administration Medical Center and consults Hogle Zoo's reptile department. By cutting a snake bite, you risk damaging a major vein as well as causing more infection.
To treat a poisonous snake bite you should do two things: Remain calm, to keep the venom from circulating, and get medical assistance. "If you do nothing at all but go to the hospital, you've done nothing wrong," Glen said. Hospitals can only treat bites by giving the victim anti-venom.
If you're not near a hospital, there is one snake-bite kit that does work, sort of. The Extractor comes with a more powerful suction cup, so you don't have to cut open the wound. This kit, which is used in zoos and laboratories, can get venom out of the skin but not the muscle, Glen said.
The best tool to deal with a snake bite, when you're far from a hospital, is a telephone, said Glen. Poison control can tell you how to treat the bite according to the type of snake. Different bites require different treatment. With some bites applying pressure is the correct response, while with others applying pressure does more harm, Glen said.
Since Chapman learned how to treat snake bites more than 50 years ago, Boy Scouts of America has updated its information for the first-aid merit badge. Yet, all of those who learned the old-fashioned method of cutting the wound and sucking out the venom need to be retaught. "People are thinking this is their security blanket," Chapman said. "But, they don't have a security blanket."