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A contestant in the Mrs. America pageant plans to continue despite suffering a venomous rattlesnake bite.
Christina Ryan, who is representing Tennessee in the event being held at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, was heading down a staircase to a rehearsal Sunday about 9 a.m. when she saw a spider in her path.
Having been bitten by a venomous brown recluse spider as a child, she knew to avoid the creature.
While avoiding the spider, she unknowingly stepped near a rattlesnake that bit her on the foot, she said.
"I startled it doing my little spider dance and he bit me," she said. "As soon as it bit me I knew it was a rattlesnake."
The snake, 8 to 10 inches long, left a fang stuck in her foot above her toe.
She was taken to Tucson Medical Center where she received 10 vials of antivenom - produced in Tennessee, she noted - and spent the night in the intensive care unit.
"The pain was the worst pain I have ever had, worse than childbirth. It was horrifically bad," she said. "It was like someone stabbed a knife in my foot, and kept stabbing it in over and over again."
The poison progressed to her ankle before the antivenom took effect, she said.
Ryan, an event planner from Franklin, Tenn., was released from the hospital Monday.
"I had an amazing recovery," she said. "Most people with bites are in the hospital several days."
Mrs. America event interviews are slated for Saturday, with preliminary competition Sunday and the finals Sept. 5.
Ryan has remained upbeat, resting her foot and preparing for the pageant. She is eager to represent Tennessee in the contest.
"I'm trying to get ready to walk in heels on Sunday without limping," she said. "I can now add fear of snakes to fear of spiders."
Dang. Just goes to show how many critters can be in one tiny area. I think the 10 vials of CroFab is a bit much for a single penetration from a juvie, but hey. I guess she's lucky it wasnt a 6' adult WDB!
Dang. Just goes to show how many critters can be in one tiny area. I think the 10 vials of CroFab is a bit much for a single penetration from a juvie, but hey. I guess she's lucky it wasnt a 6' adult WDB!
You ever hear someone say that a bite from a baby rattler is more potent than from an adult? I always figured that was an old wives tale. But then somebody told me that the baby rattlers have more of a tendency to dump their whole load of venom when they bite and an adult will be more conservative with their venom or even do a dry bite. Do you know anything about that?
I saw this story from the Tucson Citizen today and thought it might be interesting to share. Lots of facts!
The conference will be held September 3rd through the 7th.
300 venom experts to share wisdom here
International forum bolsters UA's poison center, research. Male? Been drinking? Watch out for critters.
Tucson is a hot spot for poisonous bites, stings and their treatments.
The area boasts the world-renowned Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center, the new VIPER Institute for research, antivenin clinical trials, more poisonous critters than you can shake a rattle at, and Venom Week 2007, a conference that next week will attract 300 of the world's leading experts on venomous creatures.
"We have a huge number of venomous creatures here. Our per-capita bite and sting rate is as high as it gets," said Dr. Leslie Boyer, course director for the Venom Week 2007 conference. "Venom is to make lunch stand still and tenderize the meat."
The Poison and Drug Information Center at the University of Arizona responds to bite and sting queries at a annual rate of 300 calls per 100,000 residents in the center's service area, said Jude McNally, managing director. The center assists about 6,000 people per year who have been exposed to bites and stings. It gets 200 to 300 calls a day for all poison and drug issues.
Venom Week will bolster UA's position as an international leader in information on venomous animals, bites and stings, said Boyer, medical director of the Poison and Drug Information Center and director of the VIPER Institute. "Venom experts from around the world use the expertise here."
UA is also heading a U.S. Food and Drug Administration Phase 3 clinical trial to test the effectiveness and safety of Anascorp, a scorpion sting anitvenin. More than 300 patients at 22 Arizona medical sites - primarily children - have benefited from the drug trial, she said.
Venom Week 2007 is an international conference on land-based venomous creatures, their venom, and the medical effects of venom. It runs Sept. 3-7 at the Hilton Tucson El Conquistador Golf & Tennis Resort and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
The study of venom includes many scientific disciplines, Boyer said. So it is a challenge to be aware of all the emerging research and treatment developments in the field.
The conference will allow people in fields such as emergency medicine, medical toxicology, veterinary medicine, nursing, pharmacology, herpetology, arachnology, anitvenin manufacturing and captive collection management to exchange ideas and experiences, she said.
Antivenin availability, treatment skill and expertise vary widely around the nation and the world. A big Venom Week goal is developing international standards for drug selection, dosage and safety for treating bites and stings, she said.
"
Last edited by Yac; 08-30-2007 at 05:22 AM..
Reason: quote shortened, copyright protection
Here's some additional information about the Venom Week Conference................
The Venom Week 2007 conference is not open to the public, said Stéphane Poulin, curator of herpetology, ichthyology and invertebrate zoology at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
However, venom-related events are planned for all to attend, he said.
On Monday, Dr. Sean Bush, the star of the "Venom ER" reality show on the Animal Planet channel, will be at the Desert Museum to sign autographs and discuss his experiences treating victims of venomous bites and stings. Bush will appear from noon to 2 p.m. at the Ocotillo Café at the museum, 2021 N. Kinney Road.
From 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 8 at the Doubletree Reid Park Hotel, 445 S. Alvernon Way, educators from the Desert Museum and the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center will discuss living safely with our venomous neighbors. The presentations, which will include snakes, scorpions and spiders from the Desert Museum, will be part of the Save A Life Saturday event sponsored by the American Red Cross. And the Desert Museum will offer a special exhibit throughout September featuring all 18 varieties of rattlesnakes found in Arizona, Poulin said.
Poison and Drug Information Center - College of Pharmacy - University of Arizona (http://www.pharmacy.arizona.edu/outreach/poison/venom.php - broken link)
You ever hear someone say that a bite from a baby rattler is more potent than from an adult? I always figured that was an old wives tale. But then somebody told me that the baby rattlers have more of a tendency to dump their whole load of venom when they bite and an adult will be more conservative with their venom or even do a dry bite. Do you know anything about that?
Ive heard that many times but Ive never really researched that belief (my main focus is scorpions and tarantulas). You can contact Dr. Brian Grieg Fry at Venomdoc Homepage. He's considered the best in his field, excellent guy! Or you can try the folks over at VenomousReptiles.org Home - The SHHS is Venomous Snake Headquarters (Southeastern Hot Herp Society -- SHHS), maybe try Marty Snipes or Carl Betz. I dont see how a baby viper bite could be worse than a 6' Crotalus atrox bite, they can inject TONS of venom.
I saw this story from the Tucson Citizen today and thought it might be interesting to share. Lots of facts!
The conference will be held September 3rd through the 7th.
300 venom experts to share wisdom here
International forum bolsters UA's poison center, research. Male? Been drinking? Watch out for critters.
Tucson is a hot spot for poisonous bites, stings and their treatments.
The area boasts the world-renowned Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center, the new VIPER Institute for research, antivenin clinical trials, more poisonous critters than you can shake a rattle at, and Venom Week 2007, a conference that next week will attract 300 of the world's leading experts on venomous creatures.
"We have a huge number of venomous creatures here. Our per-capita bite and sting rate is as high as it gets," said Dr. Leslie Boyer, course director for the Venom Week 2007 conference. "Venom is to make lunch stand still and tenderize the meat."
The Poison and Drug Information Center at the University of Arizona responds to bite and sting queries at a annual rate of 300 calls per 100,000 residents in the center's service area, said Jude McNally, managing director. The center assists about 6,000 people per year who have been exposed to bites and stings. It gets 200 to 300 calls a day for all poison and drug issues.
Venom Week will bolster UA's position as an international leader in information on venomous animals, bites and stings, said Boyer, medical director of the Poison and Drug Information Center and director of the VIPER Institute. "Venom experts from around the world use the expertise here."
UA is also heading a U.S. Food and Drug Administration Phase 3 clinical trial to test the effectiveness and safety of Anascorp, a scorpion sting anitvenin. More than 300 patients at 22 Arizona medical sites - primarily children - have benefited from the drug trial, she said.
Venom Week 2007 is an international conference on land-based venomous creatures, their venom, and the medical effects of venom. It runs Sept. 3-7 at the Hilton Tucson El Conquistador Golf & Tennis Resort and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
The study of venom includes many scientific disciplines, Boyer said. So it is a challenge to be aware of all the emerging research and treatment developments in the field.
The conference will allow people in fields such as emergency medicine, medical toxicology, veterinary medicine, nursing, pharmacology, herpetology, arachnology, anitvenin manufacturing and captive collection management to exchange ideas and experiences, she said.
Antivenin availability, treatment skill and expertise vary widely around the nation and the world. A big Venom Week goal is developing international standards for drug selection, dosage and safety for treating bites and stings, she said.
"
Dang, I wish I could make the conference. Ive attended a few little seminars in the past, but this one looks to be a real good conference! I see below you mention Sean Bush will be there. He's a great guy whos knowledge and treatment of snake bites is 2nd to none. I had a video sent to me from his hospital in CA, VERY informative!
I think youre trying to "scare" people by posting that. I hope the above information you included is an eye-opener to all those disbelievers in the area. They go through life with a closed-eye policy, telling all newcomers that "scorpions and snakes arent a problem, we've never seen one" and all that hulabaloo. Ill get slack for saying that, but if they have issues or dont believe me, take it up with the doctors and experts, theyll tell you otherwise. 300 calls per 100,000 residents is astronomically high. Sooner or later youll have an encounter with a venomous creature in AZ, some might be forgettable, others might require a hospital stay. Who knows? Just play it safe, youre in their home.
Your sarcasm in your response to mine was lost on me. Your post came across to me as you relaying facts - you used statistics - and I disputed your comments. I'd recommend that, in the future, if you disagree with someone, you not start off by saying "I'm not sure you can back this up" then proceed to spew out a bunch of information that's blatantly incorrect which you, in fact, "can't back up."
Yes, AZ has problems. Of course it does! EVERY city does. But the claims that you made were, for the most part, incorrect. You'll note that I never disagreed with you about the air pollution and the brown cloud. I agree that it's a big problem. As well, I said the education system needs a lot of work, I said we do have crime, I said people do die here of coronaries...I've never claimed PHX is some kind of utopia and I've always agreed that we have problems to deal with.
The point of my contention is when people come on this board and say things that simpley aren't true....how we have a better chance of dropping dead here then any other state, how EVERYONE has Valley Fever (and that's simply not true and you proved it with the follow-up info you posted, which said maybe 1/3 of the people have it, and you neglected to say in your initial post that it's, for the most part in most people, not harmful), how terrible the scorpions are....etc, etc. IMO, posting FACTUAL information, or being clear that what your posting is your opinion, is helfpul to people. Posting "sarcastic" comments which do not come across as sarcastic to many, especially when statistics are used, is not.
For one, I didn't state that everyone here had Valley Fever, I said if you stay here long enough you would probably get it. I never claimed everyone would get terribly ill, but, I didn't claim as you did that it was no big deal. I have know people with it and it can do more damage than you suggest. That is exactly why I posted those facts. 1 out of 33 people is high!
If you feel justified in bashing me with your ideas about how I should or shouldn't have a sense of humor on here, well, back at you. Lighten up. You are not daddy of the AZ thread, they have moderators for that. I do think it is responsible to post my research on the subject, I don't think it's your business on how I conduct myself. To personal, don't you think?
Maybe you can post a thread about your concern for how people should conduct themselves on this site?
By the way, you have quoted me wrong. I did not say we are more likely to die earlier than "any other state" just most! This is true.
With the combination of skin cancer risks, pollution and crime, plus are extreme summers, you are risking a certain amount of life to live here. You have a 50 50 chance of encountering a scorpion here. If people don't like my sarcasm, they can skip my post, this is America. I enjoy the sarcasm and sense of humor on here. It would be terribly boring to me other wise. So, just like people who like or dislike it here, to each it's own. I respect your opinion, and don't want you to change your personality, in all honesty it cracks me up. But, there are scorpions here, they do sting, it hurts and is riskier than having crickets. Valley fever is here to, and you might or might not get bad symptoms, your taking that risk though, it does exist. This thread is about scorpions, we are terribly off topic, which looks like is a fault of yours and mine, so until next time.cool:
After a lull, the scorpions have returned to my place. We killed 4 or 5 in the last month. Big devils too. I found several outside but don't count those in the total. It's kind of interesting. We live on a "preserve" lot and have a lot of scorpions. Neighbors just across the street have never seen one. I think all the worry is absurd, but if I didn't have the experience with them (having been stung a couple times too) I guess I might be worried about it. I'll tell you one thing: I'll take a few scorpions sightings and a sting every few years over the blood-thirsty swarms of mosquitoes at my property in OK this summer.
After a lull, the scorpions have returned to my place. We killed 4 or 5 in the last month. Big devils too. I found several outside but don't count those in the total. It's kind of interesting. We live on a "preserve" lot and have a lot of scorpions. Neighbors just across the street have never seen one. I think all the worry is absurd, but if I didn't have the experience with them (having been stung a couple times too) I guess I might be worried about it. I'll tell you one thing: I'll take a few scorpions sightings and a sting every few years over the blood-thirsty swarms of mosquitoes at my property in OK this summer.
How big were they scorps? This big?
Or were they more like this size?
How about this size? Sorry, just trying to see what your definition of "big" is. If they were these types of scorpions I might be interested in buying a couple from you. Ive been after these for years in AZ and have come up empty handed. Theyre normally active during and after monsoon season.
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Venom Week
I hope the above information you included is an eye-opener to all those disbelievers in the area. They go through life with a closed-eye policy, telling all newcomers that "scorpions and snakes arent a problem, we've never seen one" and all that hulabaloo. 
Ill get slack for saying that, but if they have issues or dont believe me, take it up with the doctors and experts, theyll tell you otherwise. 300 calls per 100,000 residents is astronomically high. Sooner or later youll have an encounter with a venomous creature in AZ, some might be forgettable, others might require a hospital stay. Who knows? Just play it safe, youre in their home. 
cool:
