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публикации о музее-заповеднике «Кижи»

Also incisions made by a medically untrained person with a dirty knife can be very dangerous further injuring and infecting the wound. Only trained doctor could do the incision with a sterile instrument within 1 minute after the bite, squeeze out the venom infected blood and treat the wound properly.

The modern snakebite first aid guidelines recommend the following effective and mild treatment:

• After a viper bite immediately start to suck the venom out. If sucking is impossible (bleeding gums or injures of oral mucosa), then press the venom out of the wound during 5–7 minutes.
• Then place the injured person on the stretcher and take him to the nearest hospital emergency room.
• The patient is prescribed bed rest, drinking plenty of hot water, feet and hand warmers, sedatives and cordials. Local procaine block is used in cases of intense pain. In severe cases drip transfusion is used.
• But the most effective treatment for snakebites is subcutaneous introduction of antivenin (20–30 ml). But it should be remembered that being of protein origin antivenin can occasionally cause allergic reactions or even anaphylactic shock. Getting the patient to hospital as quickly as possible is very important. If properly treated snakebite will not have serious effects.

We can offer you the most simple, secure and effective self-treatment based on our personal experience in dealing with viper bites. This treatment doesn’t need any special devices but only your will and immediate response: to extract venom pressing gently around the wound.

The key words in this recommendation are “without any delay”, which means within 15 seconds after a bite. As a rule, people waste a lot of precious time crying, screaming, and trying to kill an offending snake. So, they waste those important moments, when venom penetrates into soft tissues and becomes unavailable for simple manipulations. A viper does not have much venom but it is very toxic (about 20 times more poisonous than venom of a blunt-nosed viper), that is why it is absorbed rather quickly and one should act without any delay.[текст с сайта музея-заповедника "Кижи": http://kizhi.karelia.ru]

So, if a viper bites, it is necessary to step aside from the snake and to begin squeezing the venom out pressing gently around the wound. For the first few seconds the venom sits in the tissues like in a capsule and a wound left by snake teeth is not closed up. It is enough to press once and then up to 80% of venom might be extracted. It appears in the form of an amber-colored drop which can be swept away by a hand. It is not recommended to extract venom from a wound for more than 20 minutes. Then it is possible to apply vodka compress to the wound for 1 or 2 hours. It is recommended to apply a loose dressing to a bitten limb while a patient is transported to a hospital. It will prevent the limb edema.

Common vipers are venomous snakes. They are venomous enough to endanger our lives, so we need to take some simple precautions to reduce the chances of snakebite. It does not mean that every snake should be killed. The adder is never an aggressive animal. It is generally very nervous, and will choose to hide or escape whenever possible. Adder can bite only being bothered or threatened. An adder lives on small animals which can be dangerous for wild life and even for people.

The total extermination of the reptiles can disbalance natural relationships and can do much more harm to people than occasional snakebites. It is possible to decrease threatening number of venomous snakes to certain limits. And then these animals will be not “treacherous enemies of the people” but their friends and trusty allies.