Snakebite at school may cost teen's arm

CNN ^ | Oct 23, 2005

[spetznaz]

POTTSTOWN, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A 14-year-old girl may lose her arm after being bitten by a poisonous copperhead snake at school, authorities said.

The snake was caught in Valley Forge by a 17-year-old male student, who took it in a shoebox to a drama club gathering at St. Pius X High School on Friday, Lower Pottsgrove Police Chief Ray Bechtel said.

No regular classes were held that day, which was designated for staff development.

The boy was showing the reptile to other students when it bit the girl's finger, Bechtel said.

The girl, whose name was not released by police, apparently threw the snake across the room and the boy threw it outside. The snake was not found, but authorities were able to identify it because the boy photographed it with his camera cellphone, said Bechtel.

[spetznaz]

The bite of any viper can be exceedingly painful. Add into this tissue damage and necrosis and suddenly it seems almost better to be bitten by an elapid (eg cobra, krait, mamba) whose neurotoxic venom, although far more toxic, will kill you 'gently' and quickly by shutting down your nervous and respiratory system, than some of the cytotoxic/hemotoxic concoctions in viper venom. At times that might be weird than having your arm swell up 3 times and skin starting to slough off.

I feel bad for the girl involved, and hopefully the find some way to save her arm. I've seen the effects of a Puff Adder bite in Africa, and while the Copperhead is no where in the same league as a Puff Adder the pain (and destruction) in the bite is still pretty bad. Particularly for a 14 yr old.

[spetznaz]

At times that might be weird than having your arm swell up 3 times and skin starting to slough off. = At times that might be BETTER than having your arm swell up 3 times NORMAL and skin starting to slough off.

[SamAdams76]

I wish the reporter of the article would have gotten more information. Why did the 17-year-old boy bring the snake into school, for example?

[spetznaz]

Yep. I would have wanted to know more. For example why the boy brought the snake to school, and what the girl did to get tagged. For some reason I also feel a lawsuit brewing up in all this, although i wonder who will be blamed for it? Lawyers must be crawling all over Penn right now. Anyways, no matter how it happened i just hope the girl doesn't lose her arm.

[calex59]

Why did the 17-year-old boy bring the snake into school, for example?

That's not hard to figure out. He's a 17 yo idiot showing off at what a big man he was to catch a snake.

[rogers21774]

Most likely an attempt to impress the younger chicks.

[Maceman]

Terrible, stupid tragedy.

I feel so bad for this girl.

I have a lifelong interest in reptiles, and currently have a family pet ball python.

I used to be into catching snakes as a boy.

I can understand how cool it would be to some teenage boys to catch something like that and want to show it off. I wonder if he even knew what it was. The fact that the girl had to wait 45 minutes to get medical attention suggests to me that no one realized the snake was poisonous right away.


I know the boy will feel terrible guilt forever.

I pray that this girl will be OK.

[visualops]

Why did the 17-year-old boy bring the snake into school, for example

Cuz he's stupid? Just a guess on my part.

[rightazrain]

I think I'd rather lose my arm than to be killed "gently and quickly".

[Calpernia]

Boys always brought snakes into school when I was a kid. Snakes, frogs, well, that is pretty much the extent of our wildlife in NJ. But it was common.

[SamAdams76]

That old Jim Stafford tune "Spiders and Snakes" just popped into my head.

[Calpernia]

Boys like to make girls squirm.

[LibWhacker]

For God's sake, keep that poor girl away from George Clooney!

Rattler, Copperhead, Boa Constrictor... Doesn't matter; George'll club you to death if a snake bites you.

[Peace will be here soon]

Collecting snakes is just something kids will do sometimes. The real idiots collect poisonous snakes.

Had some nieghbors who collected snakes in their drained out pool. A few copperheads were in the mix and someone finally got bit. And that ended the local snake pit.

I had the normal gardener snakes. One I named Speedy because that sucker could move. I kept it in a homemade cage in the basement until it got loose in the house. That ended my snakes as pets days. : )

Kind of hard to explain to your parents that your snake got loose in the house..........

If you grew up in a city, you wouldn`t understand.

[Sacajaweau]

We put a little garden snake in a little box in the bosses desk. That wasn't bad. But the limburger cheese in his office phone...that was a real stinker!!

[spetznaz]

I think I'd rather lose my arm than to be killed "gently and quickly".

The first picture shows a puff adder bite to the calf (24 hrs later). The second shows a bite to the hand (probably not a serious bite because a full bite to the hand would have far worse effects than that). If I had a scanner i would put up a picture of what a person's leg looks like when necrosis after a puff adder bite sets in.

And in the bush a puff adder bite would be just as lethal as a mamba bite, the only difference would be time and pain. And also note that with the 'gentler/faster' killers, if you gte antivenin treatment you can have a full recovery with no ill effects (eg you could be tagged by a full grown black mamba, but if you get the appropriate medical care you will be alright once you get out of hospital in a week or two). However just have one fang of a Gaboon viper or Puff Adder graze you, just a fang graze, and a drop of venom into your system. Even with medical help you will be terribly scarred, and it will be days before the doctors are certain tissue necrosis is not a problem. Oh ....and the pain is for lack of a better term hellish.

[dighton]

The bite of any viper can be exceedingly painful. Add into this tissue damage and necrosis and suddenly it seems almost better to be bitten by an elapid (eg cobra, krait, mamba) whose neurotoxic venom, although far more toxic, will kill you 'gently' and quickly by shutting down your nervous and respiratory system, than some of the cytotoxic/hemotoxic concoctions in viper venom.

If sentenced to choose one type of bite or the other . . . elapid would look tempting.

Stats don't tell the whole story, as underlined by your pix.

[Rudder]

...while the Copperhead is no where in the same league as a Puff Adder the pain (and destruction) in the bite is still pretty bad.

I live in SE ohio on the upper ridge of the River Valley. We have copperhead here, but usually they're reclusive. We've been doing some road repair and excavating late summer up until now, and we've found 3. They get aggressive and their bite will ruin a good man's day. We have a good ER about 13 minutes away and, thanks to our speedy rescue and the ER, the damage has been slight, although the necrosis takes a long time to get right.

[LibKill]

Back in the day, I was taught how to identify poisonous snakes as a prelude to KILLING them.

Not PC at all, I know (hangs head in shame).