James Ashe Antivenom Trust

“I’ve been bitten by a snake!” Well, maybe……

You have to be a detective, asking the right questions to get to an identification of the species “wot did it”.

The sort of information we look for:-

At what time did the bite occur?
What was your location when bitten?
Did you see the snake? Describe it (seldom totally accurate).
Did anyone bring in the snake? Proper identification often depends on visual examination of the snake itself by a qualified expert.
Where was it? Up a tree, on the ground, in a hole?
What did the snake do? Quick bite, or hanging on? Make a noise, stand tall & defy you, run off at once?
What are you feeling now? Describe your symptoms throughout.
Have you taken any medications since the bite?

Some snakebites have serious consequences, ranging from temporary suffering, through permanent disability, to possible death. Statistics on envenoming and its consequences (even by other animals like spiders, scorpions, bees, will be of interest) will help in the proper treatment of victims.

If you have a case to tell me about, I would like to know all of the above and, if your doctor wouldn’t mind, his/her case history of treatment would be valuable. Email us at Bio-Ken Snake Farm with full details.

We had a request from our local hospital to send antivenom from the James Ashe Antivenom Trust for a child bitten by a spitting cobra. It had taken a while for the parents to get her to the hospital, so a lot of damage had already been caused to her leg by the serpent’s venom. She was in a dangerous condition when she arrived.

The antivenom we delivered was quickly administered. It stabilised the child and saved her life, but it could not reverse the physical damage which was clearly extensive. The little girl would require careful surgical treatment and physiotherapy for quite some time.

But someone, not realizing the antivenom was supplied by the James Ashe Antivenom Trust, had told the parents that antivenom was extremely expensive. Terrified of being charged for the antivenom, the impoverished parents whisked the child away on day three of her treatment!

We will never know what happened next. The little girl may have died of secondary infection in the damaged leg tissues. If she has survived, she will be disfigured and crippled for life.

The James Ashe Antivenom Trust makes antivenom available to save life and limb, whether the patient can afford it or not. It is free to the truly poor, and never above our cost price even to the well-to-do. If any patient makes a donation over and above the cost price, the Trust will gratefully use that money to purchase more antivenom.

Have you ever been bitten by a venomous snake?

Tell us about it - in detail.

Why?

Well, here at Bio-Ken Snake Farm on the Kenya coast, we are compiling data on snake bites.

Day or night, people (or their animals) land on our doorstep, asking for help after a snake bite. Many bites are not likely to be fatal, or even mildly dangerous but sometimes it is hard to convince the patient of this.

There was the man brought to us in the middle of an evening snake lecture at a hotel, showing all the symptoms of Black Mamba bite. You can’t get much more dangerous than that!

James directed the driver to rush the patient 25 kilometres to our nearest hospital. He telephoned the Casualty Department to prepare them for emergency treatment.

As the driver and patient sped off, a second car arrived with the mangled body of the guilty snake - a non-venomous species! James rang the hospital again and said “Treat the patient for hysteria and shock only.”

This one incidence of snake bite teaches several lessons. It highlights the importance of determining which species of snake delivered the bite. Antivenom administered to this patient may well have done more harm than good. Fear can kill! So can damaging first aid.

So, if you are lucky enough to have survived a bite from a venomous snake, please do tell us all about it. We would like to learn from your experience, as we teach others how to provide adequate first aid and follow-up treatment.

Thanks in advance for your comments.