Snakes on a Plain!

Yesterday in the pediatrie, we had a kid with a snake bite! He probably wasn't really bitten on a plain, but I wanted to use that phrase so badly because of the movie, so I hope you will permit me the liberty. He was in all likelihood bitten in more a jungle/wooded area. En tout cas, it was the first time in my life that I have seen a snake bite victim. He was walking when he came across a long, black snake that struck him on the foot. The bite was not that big, but pretty deep. We cleaned and debrided the wound a bit, and then loosely wrapped it in gauze. Then, since we only had the word of a 12 year-old describing the snake (no one had been able to capture or kill the snake to aid in identification) we gave him a polyvalent anti-venom serum. Then we observed him for 24 hours for signs of local tissue swelling, trouble breathing, or heart problems. All went well and we were able to discharge him from the hospital. I thought for sure with a snake bite, the kid was going to die, but the doctor that I was working with told me that the huge majority of snake bite victims survive, either because the snake that bit them wasn't really venomous, didn't bite them very hard, or did not inject venom when it bit. The most important thing to do, he explained to me, is to reassure the patient and their family so that they remain calm and don't have tachycardia, which only further distributes the venom. Interesting that human interaction and reassurance is actually the key to successful snake bite management.