ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Georgia Poison Center are advising as temperatures warm, venomous snakes in Georgia are becoming more active, increasing the risk of snake bites.
“For the first part of this year, we have already had 10 snake bites, but certainly they’re going to increase over the next few months. We had 580 bites recorded last year, which ties a record,” Georgia Poison Center Director Dr. Gaylord Lopez told Channel 2′s Tom Regan.
Lopez said the number of people requiring anti-venom therapy has also been rising.
Georgia is home to several venomous snakes, including the Copperhead, Cottonmouth, Eastern Diamondback, Rattlesnake, and Eastern Coral Snake.
“Even if you get bitten by a venomous snake, 25 percent of those are ‘dry’ bites, so they don’t require anti-venom at all,” Lopez said.
Lopez recommends if you are bitten by a snake, don’t wait to try to see if it’s venomous. Instead, get to a hospital emergency to be evaluated.
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“Don’t put a tourniquet on. You’ve probably seen that in movies, but that restricts blood flow and causes more problems. Don’t take meds, just get to the hospital,” Lopez said.
If untreated, venomous snake bites can cause a variety of potentially serious health problems.
But deaths from venomous snake bites are rare.
Out of an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 venomous snake bites in the U.S. each year, an average of five are fatal.
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