Odds and Ends

The Snake Bite Incidence

Anyone running near me half way through the run last Saturday, would have heard an enormous yell, "F*%k, I’ve been bitten by a snake!" That was indeed the case. The snake was half way up a tree, and I was attempting the use the tree for to regain my balance. Not too certain if I actually touched it or not, but certainly remember a sharp jab in my finger, followed by instant pain and bleeding.

Anyway, at the end of the day I was still alive with nothing more than a slightly swollen and painful finger. It seems the snake was not of a venomous variety, or if it was, then maybe I was running so fast that it couldn’t inject. The Kuala Kubu Baru Hospital doesn’t stock any anti-venom, and doctor suggested I hadn’t really being bitten by a snake, since no-one had ever come in before with a snake bite, but said I had probably been watching too much of Anaconda-2.

Many thanks to those who escorted me back out jungle, and back to civilization. A couple of days later, and just 2 small pin pricks remaining.

Next day I did a bit a research on the topic. This web page is good for starters http://www.bikehash.freeservers.com/snakebite.html

So, what sort snake was it? Looking through "Snakes and Other Reptiles of Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, Cox, et al, ", I reckon it was one these shown below. The Popes Pit Viper is my best guess, but that’s listed as "venomous and dangerous", so maybe not. Other than that, then maybe it was a Malayan Green Whip Snake.

Some comments I extracted from "Tales and Scales" by Francis Keng, just to let you know what to expect from some of these snakes.

"A bite inflicted by a venomous snake is a serious matter, but fortunately in our zoo situation, such incidents have been very rare. I should add that over the years, my colleagues and I have had quite a few near misses. One particular incident in which I was nearly bitten by a Malayan pit viper, comes to mind. This terrestrial snake is short-tempered and hence responsible for the many snake-bite accidents in areas where it occurs. The viper was in a tank. It had killed a chick which was offered earlier, but would not eat it. After some time, I decided to remove the chick as it appeared that the viper was not interested in feeding after all. Having opened the lid, I found that the grabber-stick was not close at hand, but as the viper was calmly coiled up and the chick was about 30 centimetres away from the snake, I decided to take a chance and reach in with my hand to retrieve the food. The viper sprang forward but fortunately for me, only managed to scratch its fangs on my finger-nails. The reflex action made me pull back my hand so rapidly that my elbow hit the top corner of the tank. I spent the next few minutes writhing on the floor from the excruciating pain in my elbow. As I sat nursing my bruised elbow, I could imagine the horrifying effects of the viper bite - severe localised pain and swelling, blood oozing from the punctures, my hand becoming blue and probably losing several fingers through the tissue-destroying effects of the venom. I was really thankful that I had come out of this incident with only a bruised elbow.

The only venomous snake bite I have sustained occurred in January 1978. A 51-centimetre long nine-month-old Popes' pit viper had gone off food and it managed to pierce one of its fangs into my left index finger while I was holding it for a force feeding attempt. A colleague had opened the vipers mouth with a long pair of forceps and was pushing a small piece of meat down its throat when the snake clamped its mouth shut so grimly that one of its long fangs became dislocated and punctured my finger.

I felt an immediate sharp pain but that soon subsided. I squeezed out some of the blood through the single puncture -wound and then washed my finger under running water. I then sucked my finger hard in the hope of removing as much of the venom as possible. However, within ten minutes of the bite, my injured finger became visibly swollen, and increasingly painful. I applied an ice-pack on the back of my hand to ease the pain and swelling, but this brought little relief.

Several hours later the whole of my left hand, the upper and lower arms were all much swollen and tender to the touch. I also experienced nausea and had to be taken to the hospital to seek medical attention. I brought along several vials of the antivenin specific for the Popes' pit viper, just in case. To my speechless surprise, the doctor attending to me simply brushed aside the antivenin and proceeded to administer a tetanus injection on my arm, prescribed some pain-killers, and then had me discharged the very same day.

It was fortunate for me that I did not develop any further severe symptoms while being bedded at home for the effects of envenomation to wear off. Nor did my bitten finger manifest signs of tissue damage, save for a tiny pin-head fang puncture. The fact that only one of the fangs managed to penetrate my flesh and little venom was consequently infected were contributory factors. It was three days after the bite incident before my left hand and index finger were nearly back to normal size. The nagging pain persisted for several more days before disappearing altogether."

From: Michael Sanders <msanders (at) kuala-lumpur.oilfield.slb.com>

The Rosely safety quide

This is a PH3 Public Service Announcement

The following pic is provided so that fellow hashers will know when the coast is clear and it is safe to bring F***awee his beer..

Note: May on his right can also be considered a threat.. likely to grab and finish his beer.

Toilet Seat idea

Now this is what the Petaling toilet seat should look like -