Snake-bite is one of the fatal diseases of the tropics. A clinical epidemiological study shows that Asia occupies the first position in respect of the incidence of snake-bite. In India, studies indicate that about two hundred thousand people are bitten by snakes every year, and that out of these, almost 15,000 succumb to the bite.

Which are the common poisonous snakes?

The common poisonous snakes in India are Cobras, Kraits, Russel's Vipers and Saw-scaled Vipers. Snakes usually come out during summer and the rainy seasons especially during the nights and may bite anybody who happens to come in contact with them.

What are the symptoms of snake-bite?

Since the snake may be non-poisonous, needless fright or panic may create problems. The person may simply die of shock. However, one should be vigilant as the snake could be poisonous. Vigilance includes the awareness of various symptoms and signs that appear in a person immediately following the bite of a poisonous snake.

In Cobra's and Krait's bite, general manifestations mainly pertain to the nervous system. The patient will feel drowsiness, the eyelids will drop (ptosis), the gait will be staggering and the patient will want to lie down. The patient will feel a marked weakness, especially in the muscles of the limbs. He will have difficulty in speaking (dysarthria) and swallowing (dysphagia), and finally, starting from limbs, a paralytic condition develops.

In the Viper's bite, the symptomatology mainly relates to blood vessels, as the venom acts on the walls of the blood vessels, causing haemorrhage in various parts of the body, like the skin, mouth, stomach, kidneys, etc. Following the bite, the patient soon starts spitting blood, and if you ask him to cough, he may cough out a lot of blood. He may complain of blood in the urine, and may vomit blood. There may be several bleeding spots/areas, both on the skin and in the mouth.

In each of the above groups of poisonous snakes, the symptoms, as described above, start appearing within half an hour, and within the next four hours or so all the symptoms appear.

The severity of the symptoms depends upon whether the amount of poison injected by the snake is small or large (it may be only a dry bite, when in spite of the bite, no venom has been injected by the snake), the depth of the bite, interposition of clothing, etc.

In any case, following a snake-bite, whether poisonous or non-poisonous, the attendants or the patient should not be agitated unnecessarily, as in general, nothing will happen until the symptoms, described above, start appearing. As soon as the symptoms start, one should be very alert and vigilant, as there are about four hours for the completion of the symptoms, and this period should be sufficient to transport the patient to the hospital. Needless to say, following the bite, prompt first aid measures must be immediately initiated, irrespective of the type of snake-bite. One should not, ideally, lose time in waiting for the grave symptoms to appear. It is always better if the patient is transported to the hospital soon after first aid has been administered, without waiting for the symptoms of poisoning to develop.