South Carolina Snake Bites up 30 Percent in 2017
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCIV) — Unseasonably warm weather has allowed people to get outside more often this year. That may explain why reports of snake bites have increased 30 percent in South Carolina from this time a year ago.
Jill Michels, Managing Director for the Palmetto Poison Center (PPC) in Columbia, says her agency often consults hospitals and the general public on how to treat poisonings. That includes bites from South Carolina’s six species of venomous snakes.
Michels says by early May 2016, the PPC had received 17 reports of snake bites from hospitals around the state. This year, Michels says the PPC has already gotten 24 reports of snake bites.
South Carolina is on pace to have a second straight year with an unusually high number of reported snake bites. The PPC got 206 reports of bites in 2016, compared to an average of 150-160 reports most years, Michels says.
While that is a significant increase, it pales in comparison to the major swell in cases from North Carolina. The Carolinas Poison Center in Charlotte says reported snakebites in the Tar Heel State are up an incredible 274 percent. The agency says it received 71 calls for snake bites last month, compared to 19 in April 2016.
Back in South Carolina, the PPC usually gets the bulk of its snake bite calls from March through November. Calls this time of year are most common here in the Lowcountry, Michels says.
Not all bites reported to the Palmetto or Carolinas poison centers end up being from venomous snakes, but both agencies say the ones that are from venomous snakes most often come from copperheads.
Other venomous snakes found in South Carolina include eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, timber (canebrake) rattlesnakes, pygmy rattlesnakes, water moccasins (cotton mouths), and coral snakes.
The Centers for Disease Control tracks and monitors snake bites in the United States, and says deaths are very rare. The agency estimates 7,000-8,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes in the U.S. each year, but only about 5 die.
