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RALEIGH, N.C.—Venomous snakebites are on the rise in the Sunbelt this summer, with North Carolina, Georgia and Texas on track to set records. In North Carolina and Georgia, venomous snakebites have been rising for the past several years and are up more than 10% from a year ago, according to the states’ poison-control centers. In Texas, there were 415 reported snakebites in May and June, 27% more than the same period five years ago.

The World Health Organization is publishing its first-ever global strategy to tackle the problem of snake bites, aiming to halve the number of people killed or disabled by snakes by 2030. Nearly 3 million people are bitten by potentially poisonous snakes every year, resulting in as many as 138,000 deaths. […] In a statement, Doctors Without Borders said it was “cautiously optimistic” WHO’s snakebite strategy could be a “turning point” in addressing snake bites. …

CIBOLO, Texas -- A Byron P. Steele High School student is recovering after being bitten by a small rattlesnake Friday morning. Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District said the student was bitten in the breezeway just outside of the gym. Coaches in the area killed the snake immediately and the student was sent to the hospital.

So you want to play with rattlesnake? Make sure it’s dead first. This Arizona man learned it the hard way. Okay kids, if you catch a live rattlesnake in your backyard, let it go! Good. We got that out of the way. Some guy in Arizona didn’t exactly heed that same advice, though, and tried to barbecue one. Unfortunately, poor decisions can result in terrible consequences. In the case of this man trying to show kids how to handle a rattlesnake, that’s exactly what happened. As the story goes, the whole family was enjoying a birthday in their Arizona hometown...

A teenager has survived after falling 100ft off a cliff then being bitten by a venomous snake at the bottom. Brock Leach, 14, tumbled over a cliff edge and bounced off outcroppings and rocks during his descent - before landing on a ledge. But as he tried to clamber to safety before the tide came in Brock suddenly felt a sharp pain in the hand he'd been using to help pull himself along. He was horrified to discover he had been bitten by an adder - the only native venomous snake in the UK. The fall was witnessed by his...

A mom and her son had quite the scare when the young boy was bitten by a rattlesnake while walking along a bike trail. Jaclyn Caramazza, who is nine months pregnant, was anticipating a trip to the hospital sometime this month. But she was expecting the visit for the birth of her newborn, not for a snakebite scare. On their way back from a stroll on the Folsom Bike Trail, her 4-year-old son Vinny accidentally stepped on something brown. Something coiled up. “It wasn’t dog poop,” Vinny said. “I know, it was a snake,” his mom said. Knowing that something...

PHOENIX - Ethan is lucky to be alive after a scary run-in with a rattlesnake while on a hike last month. ... Since the bite, Ethan has been in and out of the hospital receiving treatments for an infection and to have dead skin removed from the wounds. It hasn't been an easy ride, but both Ethan and his father agree it's a lifelong lesson and that you don't truly know how good you've got it until you experience adversity.

The Year of the Snake has proved unlucky for one woman in northern China who received hospital treatment after opening a bottle of wine containing a snake that suddenly jumped out and bit her hand. The surprise attack occurred after the woman surnamed Liu from Shuangcheng, Heilongjiang Province decided to add more alcohol to the bottle when the snake, which she had bought live in June and since kept pickled in spirits, pulled a Jesus and sprung to life, dbw.cn reported on September 3. Liu received treatment at a local hospital for inflammation, explaining she drank snake wine regularly to...

Chad Cross was hunting for turkey in the woods in Alabama when a venomous pit viper rattlesnake bit him in the lower left leg. Nervous and scared, the Montgomery resident attempted to calm himself and slow his heart rate so as to prevent the quick spreading of the deadly venom throughout his body. He then made a move that saved his life. He pulled out his $10 snake-bite kit. WSFA has the incredible story:

Man's best friend doubles as a doggone good bodyguard. Gudrun Mastriano of Kissimmee, Fla., was walking her daughter’s black lab Dante home when a venomous cottonmouth snake, mere inches away, attacked her. The protective canine lunged in front of Mastriano, captured the serpent in his mouth and dragged it away. But during the fight, the snake’s fangs sunk into Dante’s snout and legs. "It could have been me," said Mastriano. "I would have died." Dante’s snout swelled up to about 17 inches as the deadly venom settled in his body, according to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to...

Nepali man bites snake to death in revenge attack KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A Nepali man who was bitten by a cobra snake bit it back and killed the reptile in a tit-for-tat attack, a newspaper said on Thursday. Nepali daily Annapurna Post said Mohamed Salmo Miya chased the snake, which bit him in his rice paddy on Tuesday, caught it and bit it until it died. "I could have killed it with a stick but bit it with my teeth instead because I was angry," the 55-year-old Miya, who lives in a village some 200 km (125 miles) southeast of...

Unlike other family members, 7-year-old Logan Coleman doesn’t have an aversion to snakes. Clutching a handful of the plastic toy reptiles, he says his favorite is the venomous African black mamba. He likes rattlesnakes, too, he said. Except for the one that bit him Wednesday in his Spring Arbor Township backyard in a rare encounter with Michigan’s only venomous snake. “Logan screamed and said, ‘Mom, you have to come see what bit me,’ ” his mother, Kimberly Coleman, recalled Friday while standing near the family’s swing set where they found the snake coiled in the grass.

"Access Hollywood" executive bitten by rattlesnake Editorial Note: While this story is outside our local area, we thought it important to remind people to be careful of rattlesnakes. Sunday, July 12th, 2009.Issue 28, Volume 9. An "Access Hollywood'' executive bitten by a rattlesnake -- just in time to put her out of action on the Michael Jackson story -- is expected back at work tomorrow after a nasty reaction and two-week recovery that required 22 vials of antivenin, she said today. Sharon Smith's disastrous encounter with the cold-blooded viper occurred June 27 at a roadside rest area on U.S. 101...

An Arlington man was in stable condition yesterday in Inova Fairfax Hospital after reaching into his luggage and being bitten by a snake. Officials have not determined how the reptile — preliminarily identified as a juvenile canebrake rattlesnake — got into the luggage. The man, identified by authorities only as a coach at Yorktown High School, told fire and rescue personnel that he felt a sharp pain upon reaching into his luggage after returning from a team trip to South Carolina. Upon seeing the nearly foot-long snake, the man quickly slammed shut the luggage with the snake inside, said Chief...

ARLINGTON, Virginia (CNN) -- A suburban Washington man was bitten Monday by a rattlesnake that found its way into his luggage, a fire department spokesman said. An Eastern diamondback rattlesnake appears in a photo from the U.S. Geological Survey. "He felt a sharp pain, brought his hand out and saw the bite," said Benjamin Barksdale, assistant chief and chief fire marshal of the Arlington County, Virginia, Fire Department. Andrew Bacas zipped his bag shut and called 911 at about 9:30 a.m. ET, the official said. "He was conscious and alert but a little anxious," Barksdale said of the victim. The...

LONDON, Ky. -- As a woman bitten by a rattlesnake during a church service in London struggled to breathe, hospital employees made derogatory comments about her religious beliefs rather than providing proper care, contributing to her death, a lawsuit charges...

A Sydney holidaymaker has received two doses of antivenom following five bites from the world's second-most deadly snake, an NRMA CareFlight spokesman says. The 50-year-old man was attacked by a death adder snake at the Del Rio water ski resort at Wisemans Ferry last night in Sydney's outer north-west. He was bitten when he picked up the snake in the dark thinking it was a lizard. Other holidaymakers killed the snake and put it in a plastic bag so it could be positively identified by hospital staff. The man, from Schofields in Sydney's north-west, suffered a heart attack and paralysis...

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,...

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Going to the bathroom will never be the same for one local woman, not since she was bitten by a water moccasin who was apparently hiding in her toilet. Alicia Bailey spent three days in the hospital. She's now at home but she's not resting comfortably. She remembers what happened the night she got up to go to the bathroom. "Walked in (to the bathroom) opened up the lid to the toilet and got bit by the water moccasin on the leg." She was bitten once on the thigh, and given the size of the bite on...

Tecumseh Resident Remains Critical After Four Snake Bites OKLAHOMA CITY(AP) _ A Tecumseh man remains hospitalized in critical condition after being bitten four times by two different snakes. James Cave's wife Gloria says Cave was working at a garage near his home Sunday when he felt a pain in his foot and reached down and was bitten in the hand and foot by a pygmy rattlesnake. Gloria Cave says Cave then fell backward over a barrel and onto a copperhead that bit him in the foot and groin. Cave's son and a neighbor drove him to a nearby hospital where...