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Article: SNAKEBITE 101: FORGET THE KIT AND HEAD TO HOSPITAL.(Main)
- Article from:
- The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM)
- Article date:
- July 25, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 The Santa Fe New Mexican. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: TOM SHARPE
Forget what you think you know about sucking out snake venom or using snakebite kits, tourniquets, ice, heat and even electricity.
Doctors say if you're bit by a rattlesnake -- and that is the only poisonous snake you're likely to encounter in New Mexico -- the best advice is to get to a medical clinic with access to antivenom as quickly as possible.
Steven Seifert, medical director of the New Mexico Poison and Drug Information Center at UNM Hospital where Bob Ross was treated earlier this month, says commercial extractor kits remove 1 to 2 percent of the venom.
"A percentage or two of the total venom load out is not ...