How to Survive Snake Season, Even if You Get Bit

“Throughout the spring and summer months, the numbers (of snakebite-related ER visits) double, triple, maybe even more than that,” says Diane Calello, MD, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark. “It’s certainly a warm-weather phenomenon.”

The CDC estimates that as many as 8,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes in the U.S. each year. Such bites are rarely fatal. They kill about five people annually. But snake venom can cause serious harm.

“Venom causes pain and swelling and perhaps some blistering at the site of the bite, and it damages tissue,” says Bret Nicks, MD, a professor of emergency medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Lexington, NC. “Large amounts can cause internal bleeding.”

In the U.S., venomous snakes fall into one of two types: pit vipers and coral snakes.

Pit vipers share many physical traits, such as triangular heads, vertical pupils, and a pit between their nostrils and eyes. The snakes in this category include: more here: https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/news/20180525/how-to-survive-snake-season-even-if-you-get-bit?src=RSS_PUBLIC