Bites are bruised or punctured wounds, depending on the species of animal that causes them. However, they are studied separately, since these injuries often inject a toxic substance or transmit a disease. For this reason, the application of first aid for a bite will depend on the animal that caused the bite.
BITE OF DOG
Dog bites are the most common. Sometimes when the animal is large, the wounds produced are extensive and there may be marked tearing of the tissues. But the greatest danger of a dog bite is the possibility that the animal is attacked by rabies.
Although not all those bitten by a rabid dog acquire the disease, once hydrophobia develops, mortality in humans is 100%, so it is absolutely essential to undergo the treatment that Pasteur discovered and that is effective in all cases.
It is also prudent to undergo treatment if the dog has not been found or if it has been bitten by an animal of another species that seems rabid. It is necessary to suspect that a dog is rabid when it presents excitement alternating sometimes with depression and a tendency to isolate itself.
An alteration in barking is observed, which ends with a sharp whine. As rabies progresses, the classic symptom appears: hydrophobia, that is, the horror of water, due to the painful spasm of the swallowing muscles that the mere thought of drinking water produces.
Difficulty swallowing also exists for food. Later, the animal, sometimes drooling and looking harassed, goes out biting every being that comes its way. Death comes to the animal in 4 or 5 days.
What are the symptoms of dog bites?
The premonitory symptoms of dog bites, which announce the onset of rabies, may include pain at the bite site, depression and irritability; intolerance to loud noises. Sometimes a feeling of fear. There may be hoarseness and difficulty swallowing. After one or two days, the period of excitement appears.
During the period of excitement, resulting from a dog bite, there is a lot of irritability, fever and rapid pulse. Very painful muscle spasms appear which prevent even swallowing saliva, so there is hydrophobia and drooling. The desire to bite is very rarely observed.
The period of paralysis usually appears after 2 or 3 days of the beginning of the previous period. Progressively increasing paralysis is observed, with cessation of spasms and death within a few hours or at the latest in 1 or 2 days.
What is first aid for bite of dog?
The first aid for a dog bite is:
- The most urgent thing is that the animal be kept under observation to determine whether or not it is rabid.
- If the mistake of killing the dog has been made, or no other solution has been possible to avoid harm to other people, send the animal's head to the Ministry of Health, or to another establishment, where the rabies vaccine is prepared and administered, since the examination of the animal's brain often makes it possible to determine whether or not it had hydrophobia.
- If there is no suspicion that the animal is rabid, first aid does not differ much from that for any bruised wound: cleaning the surrounding skin and then the wound itself with boiled water and soap, disinfecting the skin surrounding the wound, applying a dressing.
- If there is certainty or well-founded suspicion that the dog is rabid, after a good wash of the wound with soap and water, rinse well with boiled water to remove all the soap, and apply zephiran or an equivalent disinfectant (quaternary ammonium compounds), whose action seems to inactivate the rabies virus.
- If symptoms of rabies have appeared, it should be noted that there is no effective cure for this. However, a new anti-rabies serum appears to be very useful in the treatment of this serious disease.
- To prevent the onset of rabies, early treatment with an anti-rabies vaccine during the incubation period of the disease is essential.
- Relieve the patient, recommending tranquility and antispasmodics. Also take precautions, as the patient's saliva can be contagious.
BITE OF SNAKE
What are the symptoms of poisonous snake bites?
The symptoms of a poisonous snake bite will depend on the amount of venom injected (if the snake has bitten recently it will have little venom) and the size of the person bitten.
Symptoms of rattlesnake bite
There is little pain at the site of the bite and it lasts only a short time. There is little or no local reaction. However, after 30 to 60 minutes, the venom attacks the nervous system, paralysing the muscles of the eyeball, producing the so-called "neurotoxic facies", with drooping of the upper eyelid, double or blurred vision, without real blindness.
Later, the venom affects the kidneys and produces reddish and scant urine.
Symptoms of bites from snakes of the Bothrops atrox group (yellow beard, mapanare, bone tail, yellow tail, jaraca, cararacassú, velvet).
Severe pain at the bite site, which increases, with other local symptoms, such as swelling, redness, bruising, increased local temperature.
Within a few days, local destruction of part of the skin and muscle in the affected area, which usually leaves a scar. General symptoms: initially a state of shock, sometimes hemorrhages from the mucous membranes and kidney lesions, which are reflected by bloody and scanty urine.
Symptoms of the bite of Lachesis muta (cuaima, surucucú, jaca peak, verrugosa, Mapapire, zanana, diamond, busmaster, fer de lance).
There are both local symptoms, as in the case of a botropic accident, and general symptoms, as in the case of a crotalic accident, but both are less intense. Despite this, due to the large amount of poison that may have been injected, death can occur within a few hours.
Symptoms of coral viper bite
The pain is rarely intense and disappears quickly. There are no local symptoms. It affects the nervous system, with numbness of the bitten part, which extends to the trunk, "neurotoxic facies", due to paralysis of the eye muscles, difficulty swallowing, with salivation.
Sometimes difficulty speaking. It is serious, as it frequently causes paralysis of the respiratory center of the medulla oblongata.
What is the first aid for poisonous snake bites?
First aid for poisonous snake bite is described below:
- Immediately plan to transport the victim to a hospital so that the appropriate anti-venom serum can be applied. This is the most effective treatment, so it should not be omitted, even if its application cannot be done immediately.
- Wash the bitten area with soap and water to remove any venom that may have remained on the surface.
- Squeeze the bite area to extract as much blood and serosity as possible, and then aspirate with a suction cup, or by sucking with your mouth (there is very little risk for the person doing this).
- If there is no bleeding, use a needle or thorn to prick the part where the fang marks are visible.
- It may help to extract more venom by applying a loosely tied ligature over the bite for a few minutes. It should be applied for a few minutes while aspirating. This treatment is only applied during the first 30 minutes after the bite.
- If possible, keep the victim lying down, with the affected limb at a lower level than the heart. Avoid cooling to prevent shock.
- Do not give alcohol, stimulants, or aspirin. If it is essential to relieve pain, give metamizole or another product with a similar action.
- If possible, identify the type of snake that attacked in order to know which serum to inject. Ideally, kill the snake and take it with the patient to the hospital.
- Even with first aid, any poisonous snake bite should be considered a serious case, and medical attention should be required as soon as possible. When the severity of the case requires it, it will be necessary to perform mouth-to-mouth artificial respiration.
- The local damage from poisonous snake bites can be markedly reduced by infiltrating the affected area with an EDTA (edetic acid) solution soon after the bite. However, it is important to mention that this measure does not neutralize the poison. Where these accidents are common, it is advisable to have monovalent serums: antibotropic for the yarará and anticrotalic for the rattlesnake.
How to tell if a snake is venomous
Typically, venomous snakes have a broad, triangular head with a neck that is narrower than the head and body. A depression on each side of the head between the eye and the nose is also often seen.
The body is very thick in relation to its length and the tail is very short. The skin is usually brown with dark spots. In contrast, it is made up of red, black and yellow rings in the coral snake. The coral snake is rather small and not very aggressive, which makes it rare to bite.
At the site of the bite, you can see that, in addition to the small puncture wounds from the teeth, there are two other more pronounced points, which are those left by the fangs that inject the venom.
Non-venomous snakes have a small, oval head, with no difference in thickness from the neck and body. There are, however, some exceptions to this rule. No trace of fangs can be seen in the area of the bite.
CAT BITE
In the event that the cat is not rabid, it must be taken into account that the germs contained in the cat's mouth are worse for humans than those contained in the dog's mouth, so the risk of infection is greater.
For this reason, the first aid for cat bite is:
- Wash the wound, disinfect it and cover it with a sterile dressing.
- Administer an antibiotic as a preventative against possible infection.
- In some cases, healing is very slow, due to infection of the wound by viruses.
HUMAN BITE
The human mouth is usually loaded with infectious germs, so a human bite will require certain measures of care. First aid for human bites is:
- Washing with boiled water and soap.
- Disinfection of the skin with 2% iodine tincture.
- Application of a sterile dressing.
- It is usual for the doctor to perform tetanus prophylaxis and prescribe an antibiotic to prevent infections.
