I saw a little boy in the hospital this weekend--19 months old--who was bitten by a rattlesnake. In 19 years of nursing, I've never taken care of a patient with a snakebite so I was fascinated by this particular case. The little guy touched my heart; he's such a cutie with his blonde hair and brown eyes and he was so tolerant of everything we were doing to him!
This nice family lives in the country and apparently, the child was playing on the patio when he was bitten between his thumb and forefinger. The mother was standing outside when it happened and they immediately took him to the hospital where he was given antivenin.
He is doing surprisingly well. The venom can cause problems with platelet levels (which help the blood to clot) so he was having frequent labwork and it was looking better every day. Unfortunately, his arm is very swollen and purple from the fingertips to his shoulder and he was having surgery today to open up the skin (fasciotomy) so the swelling wouldn't cause further tissue damage.
Rattlesnakes deliver a hemotoxin (affecting the blood) and a neurotoxin (affecting the central nervous system). No treatment in the field is recommended. It is no longer advised to ice the limb, apply a tourniquet, or suck out the venom (unless you are a skilled outdoorsman and have a "Sawyer" Extractor designed specially for this purpose). The most important step is to get to a hospital; the antivenin must be given within a 4-6 hour window. If at all possible, kill the snake and bring it along for identification and call the hospital ahead of time so the antivenin is available.
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