A rattlesnake bite claimed the life of a man in Pennsylvania for the first time in 25 years.
According to the Armstrong County coroner, 39-year-old Russell Davis died early Sunday after being bitten Saturday night while camping in Elk County, Pennsylvania, with his girlfriend.
Davis became the first victim of a fatal rattlesnake bite on record in Pennsylvania in at least a quarter-century.
According to Armstrong County Coroner Brian K. Myers, Russell Davis was placing wood on a campfire shortly before midnight Saturday at his family’s camp in Medix Run, which is about 125 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, when he was bitten by a rattlesnake.
Based on his interview with the Russell Davis’ girlfriend, Mr. Myers recounted the following.
“He went running into the camp and told his girlfriend to take him to a hospital.”
The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports Mr. Davis began to have severe breathing problems while en route to the hospital. Davis’ girlfriend stopped at a local tavern to get help. An ambulance was summoned and paramedics performed CPR.
It took about 30 minutes before the ambulance arrived, the coroner said. Davis was transported to Penn Highlands Healthcare in St. Mary’s, Elk County, where he already was in “acute respiratory distress,” according to the coroner’s account.
Penn Highlands’ personnel told the coroner that an anti-venom treatment was given before Davis was placed in a medical helicopter to be transported to a hospital in Pittsburgh to get further treatment.
However, Davis went into full cardiac arrest before he could reach Pittsburgh. He was pronounced dead at 5:23 a.m., before any treatment could be given.
The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources cites chance encounters with rattlesnakes are called “rare” within the state of Pennsylvania.
“There have been no deaths in Pennsylvania attributable to timber rattlesnake bites for at least the past 25 years.”
The more common of two types of rattlesnakes found in Pennsylvania are Timber rattlesnakes and the massasauga. They are concentrated in only two areas — Venango and Butler counties.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 7,000 and 8,000 people receive a venomous snakebite each year, and about five of those people die.
Snakebite treatment involves laying the victim down and attempting to position the bite wound below the level of the patient’s heart. Additionally, get the patient to a medical facility, where anti-venom can be administered as quickly as possible.
Ray Bamrick, the lead reptile keeper for the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium since 1995, offers this advice for treating snake bites, including a rattlesnake bite.
“You don’t use constriction bands or tourniquets. You don’t cut the wound and try to suck out the venom. You want to notify EMS and get to a hospital.”
[Featured image via Istus]
