Snake bite causes severe injury to child - AmericaNowNews.com

Snake bite causes severe injury to child

Ansley Crabtree says she immediately knew when her nephew, Zach Szala, had been bitten by a rattlesnake. 

She had taken Zach along with his sister and their two cousins to Wannamaker Park near Charleston, S.C. Zach ran off the path and landed on a rattlesnake, which bit him twice in the lower leg. 

He immediately began to lose consciousness and had trouble breathing. 

"This whole thing has been surreal because you only see these things on TV," says Ansley.   

She took a picture of the snake, which was barely visible against the brown leaves. 

Doctors later told her it was a timber rattlesnake. Judging  by the two-inch bite, the snake was probably about six feet long. 

Zach was rushed to a hospital and Crabtree says he received more than 30 vials of anti-venom, but still could not breathe on his own or even open his eyes. He spent several weeks at the hospital and underwent extensive therapy to regain his abilities to eat on his own and walk with assistance. 

The hospital said it was the worst bite they had seen. 

Dr. Keith Borg said that in general, "there are only five or six deaths from rattlesnake bites in the United States per year and that's a lot of different bites, so it's rarely fatal and you can usually make an excellent recovery with the anti-venom." 

Crabtree said that she wanted all parents to be aware of the valuable lesson she learned that day, that "there are poisonous snakes out there and not to let their kids go off the path." 

Copyright 2012 America Now. All rights reserved.

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