Rattlesnake Bite Victims Showing Extreme Symptoms

May 26, 2008— -- PHOENIX (AP) - A rattlesnake strikes.

The victim experiences extreme pain at the location of the bite,nausea, sometimes diarrhea. Then the mouth and throat swell, makingit difficult to breath. The victim gets lightheaded, collapses andgoes into shock -- all within minutes of the strike.

The potentially deadly symptoms used to be fairly rare, buttoxicologists in Arizona, Colorado and California say they'reseeing some or all of them more than ever, and that they could becontributing to an increase in fatal rattlesnake bites in Arizona.

At least five people have died from rattlesnake bites in Arizonasince 2002 -- three or four of them from the extreme symptoms, saidSteve Curry, director of medical toxicology at the Banner PoisonControl Center in Phoenix.

Curry could recall just five fatal rattlesnake bites in the twodecades before 2002.

Scientists and toxicologists can take guesses at what's behindthe spike in extreme symptoms, but no one yet knows what's goingon. Some say it could be a change in snake venom, a change in thesnakes themselves, or something altogether different.

"This is a brand new phenomenon," said Jeffrey Brent, clinicalprofessor of medicine at the University of Colorado Health SciencesCenter. "It should spur a considerable amount of research in thearea."

Brent said he hadn't seen the extreme symptoms in patients untillast year, when there were five. "They came pretty darn close todying," he said. "They were extremely, extremely sick."

He said there haven't been any such bites so far this year, butthat the season is just getting started.

Rattlesnake bite victims in California began showing symptoms ofweakness, breathing trouble and low blood pressure this year, saidRichard Clark, director of the division of medical toxicology atthe University of California-San Diego.

He said about a dozen people have been affected and one patienthas died since January.

In Arizona, Curry said those who haven't died from the extremesymptoms become critically ill and often take months to recover.

"We're seeing patients now because of the severe shock they'vebeen in, who have had severe strokes, and who have had loss of someintestines because of impaired blood flow and who have gone intokidney failure," he said. "These are things that we did not seeat all in years past, but now we see them a few times eachsummer."

In each state, the snakes responsible for the bites have beendifferent. It's the Southern Pacific Rattlesnake in California, theprairie rattlesnake in Colorado and the Mojave in Arizona.

In letters last week, Arizona authorities notified hundreds ofphysicians and emergency rooms of the extreme symptoms, which canbe mistaken for other ailments and delay the injection ofantivenin. Colorado and California authorities say they're taking await-and-see approach to the situation.

Russ Johnson, president of the Phoenix Herpetological Society,said he's been bitten twice by rattlers, and one nearly cost himhis life.

He said he was handling a Western Diamondback at his home whenit struck in 2001, and because one of the snake's fangs got caughtin his knuckle, he got a full dose of venom.

"She just lit me up," he said. "I've had burns, broken bones,but this is intense and it is unrelenting."

Johnson said it took 26 vials of antivenin to treat him. Hissymptoms included swelling, dizziness, sensitivity to light andnausea, and the middle finger on his right hand turned black.

He still can't bend it. "It took me six months to hold a papercup of water without dropping it, and I still can't have road rageon the right-hand side."

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)