ORANGE PARK, Fla. \u2013 During the spring and summer months, local hospitals will see more cases of people coming in with snake bites.<\/p>\n
Although there are venomous snakes in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia, their bites would rarely kill someone.<\/p>\n
However, there are some things you should never do that could make a snake bite much worse. <\/p>\n
Some of the common snakes in our area are cottonmouths, also known as water moccasin snakes.<\/p>\n
A common snake found in northeast Florida is a cottonmouth, also known as a water moccasin. (Photo Courtesy: Coleman Sheehy (Florida Museum))<\/p>\n
There are also rattlesnakes, like the pygmy rattler. <\/p>\n
Another snake that could be found in northeast Florida or southeast Georgia is a pygmy rattler. (Photo courtesy of Todd Pierson (Florida Museum))<\/p>\n
Dr. Steven Goodfriend at HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital treats people who have been bitten by some of those creatures. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are what we call dry bites where you get bit and there is no envenomation,\u201d said Goodfriend, who is an emergency medicine physician. \u201cEven if it is a venomous snake, it does not always envenomate. There are also snakes that are not venomous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those bites are usually benign and less painful.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf someone does get bit by a venomous snake and it\u2019s not a dry bite, they\u2019re going to have a lot of pain,\u201d Goodfriend said. \u201cThere are a lot of things that can happen, and they obviously need to get to the hospital very, very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are some key things people should never do under any circumstances. <\/p>\n
Do not try to pick up the snake.<\/p>\n
Do not try to kill it to bring it into the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do see snake bites too, where people are walking, maybe barefoot, and there\u2019s a snake in the bushes, and it bites them, or someone is gardening, and they get bit by a snake,\u201d Goodfriend said. \u201cHistorically, what people do is they will try to cut into it, or they will try to suck out the venom. Do not do that. Do not do that. It\u2019s not going to help. It is going to increase the amount of damage to the tissue.\u201d<\/p>\n
If someone is bitten and they are not able to identify the type of snake, Goodfriend said there are a couple of things they should do between the snake interaction and getting to a hospital. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou may want to elevate [the area of the body where the bite occurred] a little bit,\u201d he said. \u201cYou want to remove any rings. If you get bitten on the hand with a ring, once it swells, it is going to be hard to get the ring or jewelry off. Warm compress [the wound].\u201d<\/p>\n
Do not delay going to a hospital to be checked out. <\/p>\n
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