HOUSTON – 14-year-old Kaori Taylor is recovering from a snakebite at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital.
He was bitten at Surfside Beach Sunday. Police said several people every year make the same mistake he did: They get too close to the dunes and are bitten by snakes.
Investigators said Taylor was with family on Surfside Beach when he and his brother went for a walk. During their stroll near the dunes, a rattlesnake jumped out and attacked.
Chief Gary Phillips of the Surfside Beach Police Department said, "When children play [the snakes] get alerted or they get scared and they get snake bit."
The teenager was taken by Life Flight to Children's Memorial Hermann, where Dr. Sam Prater says there are a few things everyone should know to immediately help someone who's been bitten by a snake, and it's probably the opposite of what you've been told.
"You kind of keep it elevated, at the level of the heart, provide some local wound care, so some lukewarm water to wash the area a little bit but definitely don't suck the poison, don't apply any tourniquets, and remove anything that could potentially be a tourniquet, like a ring," said Prater, who is medical director of emergency services at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center/UTHealth.
Prater says people at the scene of a snakebite should not attempt to get the poison out in any way because that spreads the venom. Also, they should not capture the snake, although taking a cellphone picture of it wouldn't hurt.
"It's really helpful to actually have a picture because then it helps the emergency physician or the other physician who's taking care of them to identify what kind of snake it was, because if it's a rattlesnake versus coral snake for instance, those are two kinds of different treatments, and so it's helpful for us to know what kind of snake it was," Prater said.
Chief Phillips says it's mostly rattlesnakes near Surfside, and they come out at night when the beach is empty but during the day theyre hiding on the dunes, which is partially why it's illegal for people to be on the dunes.
"The parents need to keep a closer eye on their children, keep them out of the dunes or whatever and just to be safe," Phillips said.
Prater said not every snake bite would require a trip to the hospital for anti-venom. The doctors judge whether you need that based on swelling, pain and blood thinning.
If the bite results in all of those things, it might require 12-24 hours in the hospital.
