• Can you identify the snake? Most people cannot.
• Is the snake venomous? This can only be known by the identity of the snake.
• If the snake is venomous, what type of venom was injected into you? Once again, the identity of the snake will solve this one.
• How long will you live for? That depends on how old the snake was, how much venom was actually injected and the concentration of the venom.

• Cobras and Mambas inject Neurotoxic venom which will affect the nervous system and cause initial muscle weakness, blurred vision, difficulty in swallowing and breathing and eventually paralysis.
  
• Adders inject Cytotoxic venom which will cause massive swelling and bruising to the area that was bitten, and could eventually burst the skin open.
  
• Boomslange and Vine Snakes inject Haemotoxic venom which destroys the platelets in the blood and causes major internal bleeding in the lungs, liver, kidneys, spleen etc., and blood will also leak out of all orifices in your body, including minor wounds and bruises.
  
• Berg Adders are highly dangerous as they inject both Neurotoxic and Cytotoxic venom into you.

Treatment of snake bites

What NOT to do:

What TO do:

The ABC's (these three things are useful to remember in the majority of first aid situations):

A = Airways, tilt his neck backwards to get the tongue away from the back of his throat and stop him from choking on it. Do not put a blanket or anything under his head.

B = Breathing, look, listen and feel to check if he is still breathing. If he has stopped breathing, give him one breath every five seconds.

C = Circulation, check his pulse in his neck, on either side of his windpipe, or listen for a heartbeat by putting your ear next to his chest.

Once the situation has been assessed, then get help as quickly as possible. He would need to get to hospital soon. In hospital, if the snake is unknown, they would treat the patient symptomatically, that is, they would put him on a breathing machine if he stops breathing, give antibiotics if he shows signs of infection, etc. Most people that get brought to hospital for snake bites, don't know much about the snake, so the practice of giving the patient an anti-venom is only done is certain cases . (Besides, anti-venom is only housed in Cape Town and Pretoria, so anyone hiking in the Drakensberg - South Africa - and that gets bitten by a snake, will probably get brought to a Durban hospital, hence the symptomatic treatment which is given - this applies to South Africa).

 

Treatment of Wounds

If a patient is bleeding, try to protect yourself from their blood by using latex gloves or plastic bags/packets to cover your hands. The first step to stopping bleeding is applying direct pressure straight onto the wound with a bandage, or cloth. If you see blood seeping through the bandage, apply another one over the first. Do not remove the first bandage. If the wound is still bleeding and is on the limbs (legs or arms) you must always elevate to try and reduce the bleeding. If this does not help, you could use the pressure points on the arms or legs above the wound to arrest bleeding. Pressure points are the same as pulse points, i.e. the radial pulse in the wrist or the brachial pulse underneath the bicep, the popliteal pulse behind the knee or the femoral pulse in the inside of the groin. Never use a tourniquet unless you have any amputation of a part of the limb and have tried all above methods. Also, it is important to check for a distal pulse either in the wrist (radial pulse) or in the foot (dorsalis pedis pulse) to ensure that there is still blood flowing past the wound. You should also check for sensation by either asking the patient to move his fingers or toes or if he is unconscious, you scratch lightly in the palm or on top of the foot. This is to check if the nerves are still intact and have not been severed at the site of the wound. Never worry about cleaning the wound, unless it is small. All cleaning of wounds gets done in hospital and YOUR main priority is to stop the bleeding. So DON'T think you should pour Dettol onto the wound or rinse it under the tap before bandaging.

Treatment of Fractures

Head fractures
Very dangerous and mostly fatal. Classic signs would be bruises behind the ears or around the eyes, and fluid coming from the ears and nose. This is serious because the brain tissue would be damaged and will swell as the body tries to bring extra blood up to the brain. Therefore never raise the patients legs as this would increase the blood flow to the brain and cause even more swelling and eventually death. Never stop the fluid from trying to escape out of the ears and nose, as this is the body's way of trying to reduce the swelling of the brain. Try to keep the patient awake and get help ASAP.

Rib fractures
Fractured ribs could puncture the lungs and cause difficulty and even death. The only thing you can really do is try to sit the patient up or in a comfortable position and put a jacket or blanket under his arms to "pillow splint" his ribs and make breathing easier. Also raise his legs to counteract shock. Get help ASAP. You might have to do mouth to mouth if he stops breathing.

Pelvic fractures
The patient can lose up to 2 - 3 Litres of blood internally, and considering that you only have about 6 Litres in the body, this is very serious and life-threatening. Other complications include a ruptured bladder, and you will find that the patient automatically urinates when the patient has fallen, on impact. The only thing you could really do to make him comfortable is to put a blanket or something under his knees, as this takes the weight and pressure off the pelvic bones. Do not allow the patient to urinate as a full bladder (if he has one and it is still intact) will act as an internal splint and keeps the pelvic bones together. If he does urinate, the pelvic bones have more space to move and can cause more damage.

Arm fractures
Three things to always remember with broken bones is : a) they can severe or squash nerves and cause paralysis b) they can severe or squash blood vessels(arteries) and cause death of tissue resulting in amputation in hospital c) bones make blood in their marrow, and when broken, blood will leak out of the bone and therefore cause internal bleeding. Use the body's torso as a splint. Let the patient hold his arm against him and make sure he elevates the forearm. You can take the bottom the his jersey or jacket and fold it over his arm to keep the arm against his body. Or you can use a triangular bandage and make a sling for the arm. Please do not forget to check for a pulse in his wrist and to test for sensation by scratching his palm. If you have no pulse, please get help ASAP. and perhaps you could try to ever so slightly pull traction on the arm to try and free the artery, although this is not really suggested as it could cause more damage and of cause is very painful. No win situation there.

Leg fractures
The same 3 points as above apply. Check for a foot pulse and sensation on top of the foot. Never scratch underneath the foot as this might tickle the patient and cause more damage as the patient pulls his leg back. Try to find three fairly sturdy straight branches and splint the leg by putting one splint underneath the leg for support and the other two on the inside and outside of the leg. Tie the splints together with cloth or triangular bandages at all 4 joints of the leg, i.e. at the top, above and below the knee and at the ankle. Always use branches that are the full length of the leg irrespective of where the fracture is. If you can only find one branch, put it underneath the fractured leg and then tie both legs together. Always raise the legs once splinted as this will slow down bleeding and treat for shock. If you see that a bone is protruding, never try to push it back, just make a ring bandage and put it around the bone, then bandage the wound. Don't forget to recheck for a foot pulse once you have splinted, in case you have tied the bandages too tight and inhibited blood flow. If you have no foot pulse, once again try to pull slight traction on the leg to free the trapped artery. Also remember that when you are splinting a leg, you should try to support it by putting one hand under the ankle and the other under the knee, and if you have someone else with you, they should put the triangular bandages underneath the leg at the 4 joints before you put the branches under the leg.

I hope that you have found some interesting info and that it will be of good use to you.