Don't use it when you help a snake bite victim, this is the right way

Through broadcasts on television, we often witness the scene of someone sucking the snake bite wound area as first aid. Looks very heroic, right? But medically, the way to handle snake bites like that is actually wrong. What are the mistakes in helping snake bite victims? This is the explanation.

Myth of first aid in snake bites

There are a number of first aid errors in snake bites that have been ingrained in the minds of many Indonesians, such as the example above. Scenes of sucking out snake venom, slashing parts of snake bite wounds, and so on appear in various media. Even though it is in the form of a fictional story, this error is more or less believed and believed to be the correct way to deal with snake bites.

Many people do not realize that the method of first aid in treating snake bites, which may have been believed for decades, is wrong. Medical evidence shows that cutting into a bite wound or drawing blood from a snake bite wound does not help the victim to heal.

This method can actually be risky and endanger the victim. In addition to slowing down the victim to get proper medical treatment, sucking or slicing the snake bite wound also has the potential to contaminate the wound and damage nerves and blood vessels.

In fact, hundreds of years of experts around the world have researched how to properly perform first aid on a snake bite. But in Indonesia, the problem of snake bites is not the focus of the government. As a result, the knowledge related to this matter was also known too late.

Research on first aid for snake bites was published about 50 years ago. From this research it is known that snake venom or venom does not spread through the blood vessels but through the lymph nodes. So the spread of snake venom throughout the body is not through hematogenous (through blood) but lymphogen (lymph nodes).

This means that all methods such as sucking, making incisions and bleeding, or binding the wound area are all wrong. Lymph nodes have a characteristic feature in that they can only propagate snake venom if there is contraction of the muscles. When these muscles move, lymph fluid is pumped to spread throughout the body.

This research was made into a book by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2010. But Indonesia only started it in 2012. Until now, there are still many people who believe and make mistakes in dealing with snake bite victims.

What is the correct treatment for snake bites?

First aid for a rattlesnake bite is to immobilize it at the bite site. For example, the part that was bitten is the right hand, so the hand is made so that it does not move to prevent the pumping of fluid from the lymph nodes.

Second , immediately took him to the nearest health service place. No need to have to find a hospital that has anti venom or anti venom. Because if first aid is done properly, it can be resolved at the earliest phase and only requires analgesics.

If first aid is not done properly or instead uses methods such as in movie scenes and other mistakes, then the risk of spreading snake venom throughout the body will be even greater. The victim can go into a systemic phase when snake venom spreads throughout the body and causes organ damage. In this phase, handling requires anti-snake venom.

Eliminate mishandling of poison or snake venom

Our priority today is to turn mystics and mistakes into medicine. So far, these methods are still practiced by many people on the grounds that this method has been trusted since their ancestors.

All the false teachings about snake bite handling should not be shown in any Indonesian media. Because what they show will have a bad impact on people who don't know and believe what they broadcast is true, even though it's all wrong.

So here comes the struggle, to eliminate myths and traditional ways that do not exist evidence base or not scientifically proven.

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