There is a belief that if a person is bitten by a snake, it is necessary to suck the poison from the wound as soon as possible - such a procedure will supposedly stop its spread throughout the body. We figured out whether such a recommendation is effective from the point of view of science.
Sucking poison in the case of a snake bite - popular trope In cinema and literature. He is played out in the series "Three hearts" And "Kitchen", Films"Snake flight" And "Drenched girls", Roman Nile Gaiman"Stardust", The story of Arthur Conan Doyle"Vampire from Sussex"And many other works. However, recommendations can be found in a similar way and sites some medical institutions, and also Rospotrebnadzor And EMERCOM of Russia. Doctors give similar tips in Media, and Internet users Discuss V Blogs, is it worth using this first aid method.
By data WHO, annually snakes bit about 5 million people, and up to 140,000 with a fatal outcome. Poisonous about 15% snakes, and the degree of danger can be evaluated by The trace of the bite: Poisonous individuals usually leave one or two large punctures from fangs, and unhappy-multiple small wounds. Snakes are able to control the amount of poison that they inject the victim, so some bites may not pose a serious threat, even if the snake is poisonous: for example, if it considered that a person is too large prey and it is better to save poison for someone she can eat later.
Snake poisons Differ By its effect. For example, cytotoxins cause edema and damage to tissues at the site of a bite, myotoxins destroy muscles, neurotoxins cause paralysis or other damage to the nervous system. It is possible to prevent the negative consequences of a bite with the introduction of an antidote - they are polyspecific (that is, many snakes that live to the poisons that live in a particular region) and monopsyceptic (only from the poison of snakes of a certain species). That is why many doctors ask the victim how the snake looked - this accelerates the selection of treatment and increases the chances of a successful outcome. However, it is not recommended to try to catch the reptile in order to show it to doctors - it can bite again, and the double dose of poison and another stained limb will not improve.
If a person is bitten by a snake, specialists Recommend Immediately call an ambulance, and before its arrival, remove all jewelry and cramped clothes until the edema began, rinse the place of a bite with soap, apply a clean bandage, sit down or lie down in a convenient position, maintain calm and not move if possible. It is strictly not recommended to apply a tourniquet in an attempt to prevent poison to spread - this is fraught with the fact that the fabrics near the bite site will suffer much more. You should also not take caffeine and alcohol - the increased heartbeat will accelerate the spread of poison in the body. Before the arrival of doctors, it is better to refrain from painkillers, since some of them can increase bleeding. Also Experts authoritative medical organizations converge in opinionthat to try to remove the poison yourself (including sucking it out of the wound) in any case Not worth it.
Firstly, it is simply ineffective. In 2004, American scientists conducted experiment: The volunteers subcutaneously administered the liquid imitating the poison, and after three minutes they tried to extract it with a special pump. It turned out that the device sucked only the “bloody liquid” and in 15 minutes of operation reduced the concentration of “poison” in the body by 2%. It is unlikely that the mouth will be able to achieve great success than the pump. At the same time, the snake venom spreads through the victim’s body very quickly. This is due evolutionarily: Snakes mainly use poison for hunting, which means that it must kill or at least immobilize prey for a few minutes and even seconds so that it does not have time to be saved.
Secondly, if a certain amount of poison can still be extracted from the wound, it will fall into the mouth, where there can also be open wounds. This is able to worsen the situation, because if a person tries to suck the poison at home, toxins will receive another point of entering the bloodstream. If someone else is trying to provide help to the bitter, then instead of one injured, doctors will have to treat two already. Also, the interaction with the blood of an outsider can lead to the transfer of infections. In addition, in the mouth of a person It lives About 700 types of microbes - some of them, having fallen into an open wound at the bite site, can provoke infection and even more severe consequences.
Thus, the sucking of a snake venom from the wound after a bite is a spectacular technique in works of mass culture, but an absolutely ineffective first aid method. Applying it, you can only aggravate the situation.
Photo on the cover: Tontan Travel Via Flickr
Read on the topic:
- Webmd. Snakebites: What You Need to Know
- Discover Wildlife. 10 Deadliest Snakes in the World
- Is it true that the boas will strangle their victims?
- Is it true that with an iguan bite, it poisons prey with a weak poison and then just walks after it until she dies?
If you find a spelling or grammatical error, please inform us of this, highlighting the text with an error and by pressing Ctrl+Enter.
