Australian Snake Sightings Ahead Of Time Trigger Concerns Over Anti-Venom Treatment

In the wake of frequent snake sightings, a significant number of people die of snake bites every year in Australia. This year too, some medical authorities sat up an alarm anticipating potential snake bites to be treated properly. They are rather concerned about how they will provide the needful medical aid with efficacy.

The rising mercury level in many states heralded an early snake season in Australia. The fear of probable fatal snake bites is also germinating inside people, according to Australian Reptile Park Supervisor Jake Meney.

“If they are moving around, people will encounter them and we could see an increase in bites this year,” The New Daily quoted Meney as saying.

He also added that thousands of people undergo treatment for a snake bite every year, though only a hundred of those are found serious. “It’s probably between 1500 and 2000, but each of those isn’t necessarily a dangerous bite, because each year 300 people receive anti-venom,” he said.

So far there has been only one snake related death reported in this year in Western Australia and the species is still unknown. Australia, however, witnessed an unusually sweeping number of snakebite cases last year which claimed at least six lives.

Two consecutive investigations, conducted by Victorian Coronial into two recent deaths due to tiger snake bites, called the resistant properties of anti-venom doses into question. They are also trying to figure out the exact amount of anti-venom doctors should administer to snake bite victims.

According to the standard medical advice doing rounds for years, the recommendations supplied by the anti-venom manufacturer as well as those of the local prison’s information center should be followed when it comes to determining the amount.

Ideally, a snake bite victim should be administered with more than one vial worth of anti-venom, suggests the standard medical norms. The main emphasis, however, is to administer as much as needed. According to a new policy that has been adopted by the Australian medical practitioners, only using one vial of anti-venom would be sufficient to neutralize all the venom a person received in a bite.

Peter Mirtschin, one of the authors of the Medical Journal of Australia said that generally, one-vial is adequate.

Mirtschin elucidated that people are likely to receive high venom loads in a bite when the snakes are large, if they hang on or bite more than once. Otherwise, one vial of anti-venom will be just about enough to treat the patient.