Never cut the poison to suck it out or give the victim liquor or painkillers.
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICHsnake bites 224.88(photo credit: Piet Spaans)
The warm season brings mosquitos and snakes.
Over the weekend, Toar Gabbai, a three-year-old girl from Rehovot, arrived at the city's Kaplan Medical Center suffering from major swelling around her eyes and her forehead, giving her a frightening face. Her feet and hands had also ballooned. Dr. Dalia Steger, a hospital pediatrician, found that the cause was a mosquito bite in a public park that caused a serious allergic reaction and infection.
The toddler required intravenous antibiotic treatment for several day. Steger said that other insects can cause similar reactions, due to high pressure on blood vessels that can even cause necrosis.
Meanwhile, a 30-year-old man from Hatzor Haglilit was bitten on the back of his heel by a snake while on a trek near the Jordan River. He was in moderate condition in the intensive care unit of Safed's Ziv Hospital. Doctors gave him a snake antidote.
Dr. Amar Hussein, head of the emergency medicine department, urged people to be aware of the fact that poisonous snakes are waking up from their winter slumber and that their glands are full of toxin. As they hide in grassy areas and near rocks, one should never put a foot or arm near such places. Snakebite causes weakness, reduced blood pressure, blood hemorrhages, nausea or vomiting as well as swelling of the affected limb.
The only safe first aid is to attach a stick or other object to the limb so it doesn't move and to call Magen David Adom at 101. It is urgent to identify the type of snake and remember its description so doctors will know how to treat the patient, the physician said.
In another incident, a 17-month-old toddler from Kafr Kara was rushed to Hillel Jaffe Medical Center in Hadera after inhaling a peanut that he had intended to eat. His father immediately understood from his coughing that he was choking and started to resuscitate him after calling MDA. In an X-ray, the cause was found to be the peanut lodged in his lung.
The peanut was removed in the surgical theater, and the child was hospitalized for observation. Hillel Jaffe doctors warn parents to keep all small objects, including food, away from children up to the age of four.
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