"Snake bites go to the hospital, dog bites get vaccinated"

After being bitten by a cobra on the thigh, a 13-year-old boy was taken to a traditional healer by his family, which made his condition worse - Photo: BSCC

There have been many people in critical condition, even death, because they applied folk remedies at home or sought treatment from witch doctors after being bitten by snakes, dogs, or cats.

Clean the poison with a few stalks of vegetables?

Many critical cases, even deaths, are caused by applying "simple secrets" to extract venom when bitten by dogs, snakes... at home or by asking local healers, delaying the golden time.

The danger is that although the effectiveness and safety of self-extracting venom has not been verified, many TikTok accounts post a lot of ways to extract venom from dog bites and snake bites by crushing the stems of the watercress and butterfly pea flowers to apply to the wound, or drinking the juice of the leaves of the watercress, or even rolling and applying soil to the wound.

"Remove all dog venom without vaccination, without dieting, just with a few stalks of watercress. Do you believe it?", TikToker HP emphasized in the first seconds of the 38-second video "folk remedy to remove all dog venom".

In the video, this person instructs men to pick seven shoots of the water spinach, and women to pick nine shoots, then wash them, pound them, squeeze out the juice, and add a little salt to drink. The residue of the water spinach is applied to the dog bite wound. "This water is easy to drink, but it's slimy and odorless," this person said while holding his nose and drinking it while sharing his personal feelings.

Subjective even in dangerous situations

Recently, hospitals have continuously received many critical cases due to late transfer to other hospitals, including cases where people used folk remedies at home or asked local healers to extract venom from snake bites, dog bites, etc.

A typical case is that of a 13-year-old boy (living in Binh Duong province) who was bitten on the thigh by a cobra while sleeping on the floor. At 4am the same day, the boy started to feel tired, nauseous, vomited a lot, then started to have drooping eyelids, weak limbs and labored breathing. Instead of going to the hospital, his family took him to a local herbalist to treat the snake bite.

After this incident, the child had to undergo treatment at three hospitals and was given 5 vials of polyvalent cobra antivenom (because at that time there was no antivenom for krait). After 12 hours, the child moved his toes and fingers slightly. After 2 days of intensive treatment, the child opened his eyes and was able to communicate well.

In another unfortunate case, 3 months after being bitten on the hand by a dog, a 62-year-old man in Quang Binh suddenly developed rabies symptoms and died. According to his family, 3 months ago, his family dog ​​got sick so he took it for a vaccination.

While holding a dog to vaccinate him, he was bitten on the left hand, causing bleeding; 3 days after the incident, the dog died.

Initially, after being bitten by a dog, he treated the wound himself and his health was completely normal, showing no symptoms. In early August, he showed signs of fatigue, headache, and photophobia, so his family took him to the hospital and doctors diagnosed him with rabies and he died shortly thereafter.

Dog bite wound on arm - Photo: Provided by Children's Hospital 2 (Ho Chi Minh City)

Snake bite to hospital

Doctor Pham Van Quang, Head of the Department of Intensive Care and Anti-Poisoning, Children's Hospital 1 (City)Ho Chi Minh) - said that venomous snake bites are quite common accidents in our country, especially in the rainy season, when it is cold, so snakes often crawl into houses in rural areas.

When bitten by a snake, people need to stay calm and clean the bite to avoid infection, immobilize the bitten limb, place the limb lower than the heart and quickly take the patient to the nearest hospital for timely emergency care.

When bitten by a snake, do not cut the skin, squeeze the bite wound, or apply leaves because it increases the risk of bleeding and infection. Be careful not to tie a tourniquet above the bite wound because it increases the risk of necrosis of the bitten limb. In fact, there have been many cases of limb amputation because the tourniquet was tied too long and in the wrong position.

There are still many cases of people coming to the hospital late due to applying folk experience for first aid such as injecting venom, applying leaves... until there are signs of respiratory failure, cyanosis, and difficulty breathing, the family takes them to the hospital, causing many difficulties in treatment.

In addition to remembering the initial first aid steps for snake bites, people need to note the characteristics of the snake or, if they catch or kill the snake, they should bring it with them to help accurately identify the type of snake that bit them, helping doctors decide on appropriate antivenom treatment.

Regarding rabies, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Qui, Deputy Head of the Department of Infection, Children's Hospital 2 (City)Ho Chi Minh) - Rabies caused by rhabdovirus is an acute viral infection of the central nervous system transmitted from animals to humans by secretions, usually infected saliva.

"Most cases of exposure to rabies are through bites or licks from rabid animals. Once rabies occurs, both animals and humans are 100% fatal," Dr. Qui noted.

According to Tuoi Tre