# Adder bite



## kettykev (May 15, 2009)

Adder bite leaves father blinded, choking and just minutes from death on walk with family | Mail Online


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## Gaboon (Jun 20, 2005)

Seemed like a fair article until this - "They have the most highly developed venom-injecting mechanism of all snakes, but they are not deemed to be aggressive animals". Talk about upping the 'fear factor' with unnecessary and misleading information!


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## Spuddy (Aug 24, 2009)

Damn that sucks, at least his blindness wasnt permanent. 

How come the venom made him go temporarily blind, is this just a side effect or is this what its 'designed' to do?

To make there prey in the wild go blind etc and so easier to kill/eat.


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## Gaboon (Jun 20, 2005)

Spuddy said:


> Damn that sucks, at least his blindness wasnt permanent.
> 
> How come the venom made him go temporarily blind, is this just a side effect or is this what its 'designed' to do?
> 
> To make there prey in the wild go blind etc and so easier to kill/eat.


His body went into anaphylactic shock in response to the venom. This reaction is not a direct effect of the venom, as I understand it, it is an allergic response to the venom proteins. Its important to state that it is the exception rather than the rule (something missed out in the paper) and accounts for most of the problems he suffered, all be it the venom that triggered the response. Plain bad luck!


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## Spuddy (Aug 24, 2009)

Gaboon said:


> His body went into anaphylactic shock in response to the venom. This reaction is not a direct effect of the venom, as I understand it, it is an allergic response to the venom proteins. Its important to state that it is the exception rather than the rule (something missed out in the paper) and accounts for most of the problems he suffered, all be it the venom that triggered the response. Plain bad luck!


 
ahh right, thanks for clearing that up for me buddy. :2thumb:


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## DavidR (Mar 19, 2008)

Gaboon said:


> Seemed like a fair article until this - "They have the most highly developed venom-injecting mechanism of all snakes, but they are not deemed to be aggressive animals". Talk about upping the 'fear factor' with unnecessary and misleading information!


I thought the article was surprisingly well balanced. The statement about 'most highly developed venom-injecting mechanism of all snakes' is unnecessary but not misleading. The hinged fangs of vipers are considered to be the most advanced delivery system (from an evolutionary context) of all venomous snakes, this is of little interest to the human bite victim though!

The blindness is interesting, having never had the displeasure to endure an anaphylactic or anaphylactoid response I have no idea what its like, but going into a state of shock such as this may well cause some kind of temporary blindness? I would be interested to know.

David.


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## Gaboon (Jun 20, 2005)

Hello Dave! 



DavidR said:


> I thought the article was surprisingly well balanced. The statement about 'most highly developed venom-injecting mechanism of all snakes' is unnecessary but not misleading. The hinged fangs of vipers are considered to be the most advanced delivery system (from an evolutionary context) of all venomous snakes, this is of little interest to the human bite victim though!


Misleading in the sense that the general public may not be aware the statement is meant in an evolutionary context as it was not made clear to be. To the statement may be easily read as the adder as an _individual species_ has the "the most highly developed venom-injecting mechanism of all snakes". Perhaps I'm being a little pedantic. 




DavidR said:


> The blindness is interesting, having never had the displeasure to endure an anaphylactic or anaphylactoid response I have no idea what its like, but going into a state of shock such as this may well cause some kind of temporary blindness? I would be interested to know.
> 
> David.


Possibly related to circularity malfunction during bradycardia? Resulting in a lack of O2 to the cornea and/or constriction of the capillaries leading to the eye?


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## matt1993 (Jul 7, 2009)

might teach him a lesson, who in there right mind would try and pick up an adder with his bare hands:bash:


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## kettykev (May 15, 2009)

There are plenty of people on this site who would not know it from a Grass snake or maybe even a slow worm. I am shocked by the lack of knowledge seen on RFUK regarding our own native herps.


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## Lamprophis (Jun 12, 2008)

The majority of people in the UK I would imagine have never even seen an adder. I guess the popular (although wrong) consensus is that they're relatively harmless. When is the last time you heard of an adder bite or the possible effects of a bite in the press? I'd imagine hardly at all, which is exactly why people are still mis informed of the dangers.


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## JohnR (Jan 1, 2010)

The symptoms described in the article are typical of a serious envenomation by V. berus. The patients shows symptoms of a anaphylactic reaction but this is not a true allergy. The venom itself causes the realease of endogenous substances (naturally occuring) such as bradykinin, histamine, prostaglandins etc. These substances cause the symptoms that portray an allergic reaction. So i.e. low blood pressure, swelling of the airway, difficulty in breathing, abdominal pain and diarrhoea. So the effect is a direct action of the venom, having a medical history of immune hypersensitivity such as asthma can exacerbate the symptoms.

John


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## joeyboy (Jul 19, 2008)

I've only seen an Adder twice, both in locations pretty near, one in an unnamed stream crossing, kids play there, folks go for walks, when I was little I named it Adder-ford as it's were we saw the Adder. It was in the stream and my Gran has a phobia of snakes, she clenched my mums arm and yelled "THAT STICK IS MOVING! SNAKE!", and ran away with her eyes closed. The snake just swam down with the current, then slithered off into the embankment on our side, got to see the patterning as we were pretty close, not sure if they are decent swimmers or if it was lucky to get out?

Well I think it was an Adder, it was a tan brown, and had a thick black zig zag down it's back. The other time was years later in my teens, came across one curled up on the floor in the heather in the moors.


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## Gaboon (Jun 20, 2005)

JohnR said:


> The symptoms described in the article are typical of a serious envenomation by V. berus. The patients shows symptoms of a anaphylactic reaction but this is not a true allergy. The venom itself causes the realease of endogenous substances (naturally occuring) such as bradykinin, histamine, prostaglandins etc. These substances cause the symptoms that portray an allergic reaction. So i.e. low blood pressure, swelling of the airway, difficulty in breathing, abdominal pain and diarrhoea. So the effect is a direct action of the venom, having a medical history of immune hypersensitivity such as asthma can exacerbate the symptoms.
> 
> John


Thanks for clearing that up!



joeyboy said:


> not sure if they are decent swimmers or if it was lucky to get out?


Yeah all snakes are pretty adept swimmers.


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## slippery42 (Mar 23, 2008)

ITV stole my Adder video footage for the TV article on this.

Naughty people!

I'll be sending them a bill!


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## paulds (Mar 17, 2009)

This happened where I go looking for Adders, I've only seen 2 this year and this guy was lucky / unlucky enough to come across a melanastic specimen. Gutted.

I agree that the article was suprisingly well written and didn't try and sensationalize things at all.

This is a lovely place with a booming grass snake population and it sounds like the Adders are on the way up too.

I actually 1st got into snakes because of this park, when I found an Adder skin on a school trip. : victory:


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## terciopelo_dave (Jun 1, 2007)

Like David I found the article reasonbly well-balanced, if not a little uninformed. My only real complaint is in the "facts" listed at the side. "Britain's deadliest snake". No need for such a sensational statement. Strictly speaking it's true, but far too suggestive. "Britain's only native venomous snake" would have conveyed the information without the ignorant hype.


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## ForeverHams (Sep 9, 2008)

kettykev said:


> There are plenty of people on this site who would not know it from a Grass snake or maybe even a slow worm. I am shocked by the lack of knowledge seen on RFUK regarding our own native herps.


I completely agree, and for these people... If you can't ID it don't touch it!! first rule with anything that could potentially be dangerous... even bloody mushrooms!

Obviously protecting his son in this scenario, however it says he thought it was struggling to get up the bank insinuating he had already got his son out of the way.

Shame when things like this happen not only for the poor bloke that got tagged but for the species as it does nothing for their reputation 

As others have said thats possibly the least dramatic animal associated bit of media i've ever read/heard/seen! nice to see an "almost balanced" view given as opposed to the usual fear mongering!


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## ViperaLow (Jul 7, 2010)

Well the article certainly wasn't that bad... it doesn't matter what the subject matter is... most media outlets will sensationalise any story as much as they can because it tends to attract more readers.

What we really need is better public education about the dangers of snakebite in every country with dangerous snakes of any kind... perhaps if more people knew that almost all recorded venomous snakebites in most countries occur to people who are attempting to handle or move snakes... they would be less tempted to pick them up in the first place. 

But there will always be a few who think they're too big and clever and so the rules don't apply to them... and then a beautiful species of snake gets a slightly worse public reputation simply for defending itself *sigh*


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## smart1 (Oct 16, 2007)

i read this in the paper and found it to be a little over the top , how many people go into analytic shock when bitten or stung ... were i go people tend to leave them alone , theres a dog who got bitten that was taken straight to the vet and came though it with no ill effects, so again its down to your body and how it copes with the venom.


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## HerperUK (Jul 26, 2010)

It is really quite simple. if you are out in the field where snakes are, with children and you come across a snake, move yourself and the children. this could have been avoided with a bit more thinking in my opinion.


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## HerperUK (Jul 26, 2010)

slippery42 said:


> *ITV stole my Adder video footage for the TV article on this.*
> 
> Naughty people!
> 
> I'll be sending them a bill!


Isn't that illegal?


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## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

Lamprophis said:


> The majority of people in the UK I would imagine have never even seen an adder. I guess the popular (although wrong) consensus is that they're relatively harmless. When is the last time you heard of an adder bite or the possible effects of a bite in the press? I'd imagine hardly at all, which is exactly why people are still mis informed of the dangers.


there is a current misconception that the bite of an adder is little more dangerous than a bee sting, & that only infants, the elderly, & those allergic to the venom are in any danger- God alone knows how this myth has come about! the bite of an adder, as i understand it, is a danger to be reckoned with, not trifled with.


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## slippery42 (Mar 23, 2008)

HerperUK said:


> Isn't that illegal?


Legal letter on its way to ITV


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