Snake run-ins on the rise

Shannon Dean's husband said he had never heard her scream as loudly as she did the Friday night before Mother's Day.

"It was late. I went out to feed the dog. I opened the kennel. When I was bringing the food back out, it hit," said Dean, who lives in King William County. "I looked at my hand and saw these huge fang marks."

She was bitten by what was later determined to be a copperhead snake.

Beware -- it's the time of year when snakes are more active. Unsuspecting people and dogs are having run-ins with them, and while a copperhead snakebite can be a medical emergency, deaths are rare.

"This happens every year," reptile expert J.D. Kleopfer said of the rash of copperhead reports.

While venomous, copperheads are not highly toxic, said Kleopfer, who works for the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Their bites can be painful, but Kleopfer said he has never heard of anyone dying from one.

Dr. Kirk Cumpston, medical director of the Virginia Poison Center, said so far this year the agency has had reports of 35 human exposures to snakes, not necessarily all copperheads.

"That seems to be a little bit more than what we usually have," Cumpston said. "We usually have around 60" for the year. "If we continue at this pace, we would pass that."

The Blue Ridge Poison Center at the University of Virginia has received 49 snakebite calls so far this year, putting them on pace with last year, said Dr. Christopher P. Holstege, the center's medical director. Of the 49 cases, 25 were copperheads, one was a timber rattler, and 23 were nonvenomous snakes.

Cumpston, at VCU, repeated that human deaths from snakebites are rare. "In 2007, I think there were two fatalities in the United States. That's out of 4,000 exposures," he said.

Snakes are also taking aim at dogs, something pet owners may want to be mindful of.

"We see many, many, many copperhead bites every year," said veterinarian Paul Howard at the Veterinary Emergency Center on West Cary Street in Richmond.

As with humans, few animals die from copperhead snake bites, Howard said. When there are fatalities, the animal typically was very young, very old, had other health issues or suffered multiple bites. Typically, animals bitten more than once during an attack are those in a confined space that can't get away.

"They usually learn their lesson the first time, unless it's a Jack Russell terrier," said Howard. "Jack Russell terriers are so determined, they will frequently get bit multiple times."

Dean was bitten by a baby copperhead, a little under a foot long. The dog didn't get bitten, but it had the year before, she said.

While her husband, Dougie, went to kill the snake, she went inside with the couple's three children, Joseph, 5, Isabel, 3, and Daisy, 3 months. Dean called 911, and an ambulance was dispatched.

On the ride to the hospital, she was given fluids intravenously. At the hospital, antivenom was ordered, and she was offered pain medication.

For people and pets, a snakebite can require an overnight hospital stay for observation.

Dean said doctors and nurses measured her arm to monitor the swelling.

Cumpston, at the Virginia Poison Center, said antivenom is available but not always needed. The poison center is consulted by emergency room doctors, but the decision on treatment is made at the bedside.

"We look at the findings on their extremity -- foot, arm, leg or hand," Cumpston said. "What did the bite look like? Is there swelling? Is there evidence of tissue injury? Is there a large blister? All those sort of indicators."

Dean, bitten on a knuckle, said the swelling had made it to her shoulder when she was given antivenom.

Doctors didn't want her to pass antivenom to her daughter she was breastfeeding, so Daisy was fed formula by bottle for about a week..

For the most part, life is back to normal, Dean said.

"I still don't have the whole range of motion, as far as like opening bottles, that kind of twisting motion," she said. "It will bruise every now and then out of the blue. They said that kind of stuff can happen for up to two months after the bite.

"I made sure the kids know the new rule -- they don't go outside after dusk."

Contact Tammie Smith at (804) 649-6572 or .

Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or .