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Contrast that with the humans I've known who have gotten bitten. One had to have emergency surgery on his finger (the bite site) because the doctors feared nerve damage. One was give anti-venin. One had his whole leg turn black and blue after stepping on one after dark. A boy in my child's class had to miss the first week and a half of school and use crutches for a period of time following a bite to the leg.
Not only that, I read that the cost of antivenin is something like $15,000 per dose, even with insurance? (or maybe insurance doesn't cover it??). That's MUCH scarier than a little nerve damage, to me!
Hardly any copperhead bites are fatal. When considering the cost of the anti-venom, makes on be kinda like Jack Benny....if you're old enough to remember.
The antivenin is not given in all or maybe even most cases, but in this case there was the possibility that the person would lose some of the use of her fingers from nerve damage due to the extensive swelling and would not be able to work as well in her job. I never heard anything about how much the treatment cost.
I never heard anything about antivenin in the other cases I know about which were the more common bites on the foot/leg.
Also, the person with the bite on the finger was bitten by a baby copperhead. They can be just as bad as the full grown ones — maybe worse. There's a school of thought that says the babies don't know how to hold back on their venom and shoot it all while the adults hold back for later.
I love snakes and welcome all nonvenomous snakes to my yard. Well, not ALL at once. Really would like to keep my fingers. I haven't moved yet, but can think of several places in my new yard that seem like copperhead vacation villas (large hole in tree stump, large pile of leaves from last fall, some tubing under deck). I have a feeling I will be completely paranoid about this to the point of obsession. Hm.
My one irrational fear is snakes so I have tried to educate myself on them over the years. Most adult venomous snakes do not inject their venom in you because they only produce enough for meals and takes awhile to make more. Juvenile snakes can't control their venom so that is why they are consider more dangerous then adults. What messes you up is the bacterial infection from their fangs so a good round of anti-life (biotics) is the normal treatment. Just remember 70% of all snake bites are to people trying to kill the snake , just leave them alone. The only non lethal method to remove snakes is to disrupt their homes and then they will leave.
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