Tiny snake's bite can carry a big wallop for children; zoos come to the rescue Homepagelatest. A young girl’s encounter with a tiny snake became a big problem last month, and according to a local doctor who consulted on her case, it represents a growing problem in Oklahoma as pygmy rattlesnake bites not only are increasing in number but changing in nature. Adyson Griffin, 6, was bitten by a western pygmy rattlesnake Sept. Henryetta area. She did not see the snake before it bit her near the ankle. After a Life. Flight helicopter ride to Tulsa, 3. Tammy Collins.“(The antivenin) would raise her count and then it would drop right down again,” Collins said. Slowly now, Adyson’s platelet level seems to be coming back, but in the meantime she has to be careful.“They said no running, no jumping, no playground time; she can’t get cleared to go to school,” Collins said.

That wide- ranging effect of the pygmy rattler venom, an attack on the victim’s coagulation system, which can lead to dangerous internal bleeding, is a relatively new development and has threatened four children in Oklahoma the past two years, according to Dr. Phil Barton, medical director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa.

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The threats would have been much more serious if not for help from Oklahoma’s zoos, he said.“Both zoos have helped us in the past, and in this case the Tulsa Zoo made a significant difference in her outcome,” Barton said. After recognizing the problem in children last year, the pediatrician and Dr. William Banner, medical director of the Oklahoma Poison Control Center, co- authored a paper that should result in release of a new antivenin treatment sometime next year, Barton said. In each case, a child received 2. A typical dose of anitvenin for a bite case is four to six vials. After 2. 8 vials of a standard Cro.

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Fab antivenin failed to help Adyson, the hospital got 1. Antivipmyn, from the Tulsa Zoo, Barton said. The standard Cro. Fab antivenin covers the 1.

North America; the Antivipmyn covers up to 4. The pygmy rattlesnake is interesting; it has a different type of antigen, one we can’t describe yet, in its venom.

Snakes evolve and venom can change and adapt, and we’re seeing it becoming quite resistant to the Cro. Fab now,” Barton said. We think the pygmy rattlesnake venom is morphing.”Not only is the venom showing signs of greater danger, the incident of pygmy snake bites is on the rise, Barton said. He has worked in pediatric medicine in Tulsa since 1.

Banner for 1. 3 of those years. Of pygmy rattlesnake bites, he said, “we see way, way more than ever before.”Without exact numbers, he broke down the changing trends he witnessed the past decade.“Ten years ago the breakdown was 7. In the children’s hospital now I’d say its 8. Thirteen children were treated with Cro. Fab at St. Francis this year, according to pharmacy records, Barton said.

There have been 3. Sometimes the snakes bite without delivering venom, or a very small amount. The patients are observed for a time and then sent home. In Adyson’s case, her mother said the bite was scary and painful and the swelling rose all the way up to her knee, but now it is mostly healed.“It’s still just a little tender to the touch,” she said. The girl’s blood platelet count has been slow to recover. She has to travel to her doctor’s office in Okmulgee daily to have blood drawn for testing. Her platelet count needs to be twice to three times what it was Wednesday, Collins said.

Doctors have not set a time frame for her count to recover.“I think she’s been kind of a head- scratcher,” Collins said. Adyson seems to be taking it all in stride.“She has been fantastic; even right after it all happened, she’s kept her spirits up and just been her happy little self,” Collins said. I’m a grown woman and I couldn’t have handled it like she did.”Lasting impacts are the medical bills yet to come — and her fear of snakes. The Life. Flight bill is in the neighborhood of $3.

Collins said.“I was told each antivenin vial from the hospital is about $1. She had 2. 8 of the one and 1.

The incident in the backyard still upsets her four children, ages 5 to 1. She said the bite incident had her in a panic. Her husband, Matt Collins, is an EMT and firefighter and was the calm one.“They were all pretty terrified,” she said of the children. They haven’t asked, not even attempted to go outside yet.”She is fine with them staying in for now. They play outside at school.“Once it starts snowing they are free to go out there and play again,” she said in a lighthearted way. The ordeal was fatal to the snake itself, which Matt Collins found near the tree where Ayden was playing.“It’s in the freezer now,” Collins said with a heavy sigh.

My husband wants to turn it into a bracelet for her.”.