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Real Surprize. Death's from Rattlesnake bites are almost unheard of Especially as far north as PA which only has 2 species of Rattlesnakes the Massasauga and the Timber Rattle snakes. Deaths from either are almost unknown. Very seldom will ether inject a lethal dose of venom.
There have been no deaths from Rattlesnakes in PA for at least 25 years.
odd, especially since this happened at night when snakes are less active.
We used to get at least one rattlesnake bite a summer, usually during rattler hunting week, or weekend-however long it lasted. But I don't remember anyone dying from it.
What always bothered me were the commercials for insurance where a couple was in the desert southwest and their car stops and there is a pile of rattle snakes outside the car. We lived in the desert, 3 years in a small town surrounded by agricultural land (highly irrigated) and 3 years out in the county on an acre where I walked the dogs on a path through cactus and other brush and I never saw a rattlesnake, well, we saw them at the Desert Museum in aquariums. Saw maybe 6 dead in on the roads when we were there.
When I was a kid in MI living in the country, I never saw a rattler but we saw other snakes rather frequently, my dad always stressed to leave them alone and he could really drive home a point so I still hear him saying it when I do see a snake. I like snakes though and get irritated that the neighbors kill the ribbon and garter snakes.
He probably died as a result of where he was bitten. I am just speculating of course but he was probably bitten on the torso instead of one of his limbs. The story says he was bitten while sitting at a camp fire.
"Armstrong County Coroner Brian K. Myers ruled the cause of death as Anaphylaxis reaction to a venomous snake bite..."
Does this mean that the victim had an allergic reaction to the venom, like some people are allergic to insect stings?
Anaphylaxis is a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction. It can occur within seconds or minutes of exposure to something you're allergic to, such as a peanut or the venom from a bee sting.
Typically, 5 people in the United States die from venomous snake bites annually. This includes rattlesnakes, other related pit vipers such as cottonmouths and water moccasins, and the unrelated coral snakes - though deaths from coral snake bites are extremely rare.
To put the fatality rate in perspective, less than 1 in 1000 people bitten by a venomous snake dies.
I've only seen two venomous snakes. One was a speckled rattlesnake I happened across as I hiked along the gravel road in Darwin Canyon, along the western boundary of Death Valley National Park. The other was timber rattlesnake on a sandstone river bluff in southeastern Minnesota - when the large snake slowly crawled away its tail emerged from some nearby vegetation, and I was astonished to see that it was in fact a rattler as at that time I did not realize they lived in this area.
So it wasn't the usual toxic effect of the venom that killed him, rather it was a specific personal allergic reaction that did him in?
That is my understanding after rereading the story.
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