Are there coral snakes in Beijing? Do you know about their lethality?

A few days ago, a suspected coral snake was found in Beijing, which was later confirmed to be a California king snake. Although it was a false alarm, many people do not know much about the lethality of coral snakes. How venomous is the coral snake? Can you suck out the snake venom with your mouth after being bitten? Let's take a look.

Compiled by New Media Editor Lv Bingxin

Recently, Beijing residents reported that they found a half-meter-long black and white striped snake near Wangjing East Road. The snake was about half a meter long, with black and white stripes all over its body, and was walking under the car.

Previously, wildlife protection experts said that this was a coral snake, which is aggressive and known as a "chronic killer." Li Li, director of the Black Panther Wildlife Conservation Station, said in an interview with the media on the 11th that after careful identification of the video, it was a non-venomous California king snake.

Although it was a false alarm, many people do not fully understand the lethality of the coral snake. The coral snake mainly lives in the south of the Yangtze River, Guangdong, Guangxi and other places, but in recent years it has often appeared in other parts of my country because there are always people who buy coral snakes online and keep them as pets, causing many injuries.

So, how venomous are coral snakes? Can you suck out the venom with your mouth after being bitten? Let's take a look.

The venom is strong, and the bite makes one drowsy and almost painless

The Bungarus serpentis is the most poisonous terrestrial creature in my country. It is extremely toxic, with only 0.08 mg of venom being enough to kill a person. But strangely, it is not as well-known as the five-step snake, the king cobra, and the Mangshan ironhead.

The main reason why the coral snake is not well-known is that they are too docile. The coral snake hides during the day and comes out at night, and their activity time does not overlap with that of humans. Therefore, although they are widely distributed, the probability of encountering coral snakes is small.

Secondly, the Bungarus multicinctus is relatively small, with the largest one being only about 1.8 meters long. Its smaller size means that it excretes less venom, with an average of 4.6 mg of venom per time, while the average venom excreted by the five-step snake is 176 mg, and the venom excreted by the king cobra is 101.9 mg per time.

The amount of venom excreted by the Bungarus serpentis is small, and its bite is not painful. If you are bitten by it at night, you may mistakenly think it is just a mosquito bite. However, the five-step snake and the king cobra are different. Their bites are very painful. Even if the reaction is slow, you will know that you have been bitten by a venomous snake.

The venom of the Bungarus krait is very strong, but after being bitten by a Bungarus krait, you seem to feel no pain, but feel very sleepy and want to sleep. This is actually because the Bungarus krait venom is a neurotoxin, which will cause a feeling of paralysis in parts of the body when the poison is released. Long-term poisoning will cause the skeletal muscles to be unable to contract normally, respiratory paralysis, and then death in sleep. So don't sleep after being bitten by a Bungarus krait. If you must sleep, call the police before going to sleep.

Five-step snakes and king cobras are different. Their toxins contain blood circulation toxins. When the blood circulation toxins are active, not only will the wound continue to bleed, but it will also be very painful, so painful that you can hardly walk. The origin of the name of the five-step snake is that after being bitten by it, you will not be able to walk five steps due to severe pain. In addition, the blood circulation toxins are also very terrible. If it is not treated in time, the flesh at the wound will rot, so it is also called the "rotten meat king". Even if you are lucky enough not to die, your limbs will be disabled.

In the past, due to the lack of snake venom serum, the mortality rate was very high whether bitten by a five-step snake or a silver ring snake. It’s just that the five-step snake venom is very scary when it attacks, so people mistakenly believe that these snakes are more toxic. Little do they know that the silver ring snake kills people invisibly, which is the most terrifying thing.

Although the Bungarus cobra is the most poisonous snake in my country, there is no need for us to be afraid of it. On the one hand, they are timid by nature and will hide when they hear human movements. On the other hand, Bungarus cobra will not attack people easily and will only release venom when threatened.

Buying coral snakes online as pets has resulted in many injuries

In 2018, a 21-year-old girl in Weinan, Shaanxi, bought a coral reef snake online as a pet, but was unfortunately bitten by the snake. Because she missed the best golden period, she died despite ineffective treatment.

In October 2018, a 25-year-old boy in Hangzhou was also bitten by a coral reef snake and was rushed to the hospital for treatment. After regaining consciousness, the boy said that he had bought the snake online three days ago.

In 2019, a 24-year-old boy in Shaanxi was bitten by a coral reef snake. Although he received emergency medical treatment, the local doctors had no experience in treating coral reef snakes and no corresponding serum because the area was not the natural distribution area of ​​coral reef snakes. In the end, with the help of all sectors of society, the life-saving serum was found and the boy was out of danger.

These people are not exposed to the coral snakes in their natural distribution areas, but through online shopping or other means, bringing coral snakes into unfamiliar environments. When coral snakes feel threatened, they may hurt people. The coral snakes are highly toxic, and if the corresponding serum is not injected in time, it will be life-threatening.

If you are bitten by a snake, can you suck out the venom with your mouth?

In movies and TV dramas, we often see people sucking out snake venom with their mouths, which subtly misleads the audience. Huang Feng, a snake science engineer at the Huangshan Snake Science Research Institute, said that this practice is not advisable. First, it is impossible to suck out all the snake venom with your mouth. Because after a person is poisoned, the snake venom quickly reaches all parts of the body as the blood and body fluids circulate. Second, people who suck snake venom are also in danger. After being bitten by a snake, some snake venom will remain on the surface of the body. If a person who sucks snake venom has gingivitis or other inflammation in the mouth, the venom will penetrate the mucous membrane and cause harm to the human body, which is very dangerous.

However, if conditions permit, rescuers can use the following methods instead of mouth to expel some of the snake venom. Gao Wei, an emergency physician at the Miyun branch of Peking University First Hospital, said that for example, using hands to squeeze out the venom - if permitted, using a breast pump, cupping jar or empty mineral water bottle, some toxins can be properly sucked out through the vacuum principle.

Snake venom is divided into blood circulation toxins, neurotoxins, and mixed blood circulation and neurotoxins. The symptoms after being bitten by venomous snakes of different toxicities are not the same: being bitten by a five-step snake will cause bleeding and hemolysis in the body, causing the face to turn pale; being bitten by a short-tailed pit viper will cause double vision; being bitten by a coral reef snake will cause drowsiness and easy to fall asleep.

Huang Feng reminded that after being bitten by a snake, first aid should be given using the treatment methods for poisonous snakes, rather than judging whether the snake is poisonous on your own. Call for help immediately and wait for professional rescue.

During the waiting process, you can perform temporary emergency treatment. First, stay away from venomous snakes to prevent secondary bites. Second, comfort the bitten person to prevent him from panicking too much, and let him stay calm and not move too hard. Then perform the following emergency treatment methods.

First, prevent the injured part from being higher than the heart. For example, if the hand is injured, it should be lowered to prevent the blood from returning to the heart too quickly. Second, tie a bandage at the proximal end. Note that it is "binding" rather than "tying". Many people use wire or string to tie, which is wrong. This may cause limb necrosis. It should be tied with something softer, such as rubber bands, cloth strips or socks, etc. The looseness should be enough to put a finger in. Generally, tie for 15 to 30 minutes and loosen for 1 to 2 minutes. You can squeeze with your hands and rinse with cold water while squeezing blood. After rinsing, apply ice cubes around the injured part to cool the skin, shrink blood vessels, and reduce blood return.

(Content compiled from Beijing Daily, Beijing Traffic Radio, China Internet Joint Rumor Refutation Platform, "Zhong Ming Talks Science" WeChat public account, etc.)

Produced by: Science Central Kitchen

Produced by: Beijing Science and Technology News | Beijing Science and Technology Media

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