# From a chemists's perspective what actually kills the victim of a snake bite? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-chemistss-perspective-what-actually-kills-the-victim-of-a-snake-bite/975101 "2022-11-17T20:21:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-chemistss-perspective-what-actually-kills-the-victim-of-a-snake-bite/975101/1 "2022-11-17T20:21:59Z")
From a chemists’s/pathologists’s perspective what actually kills the victim of a snake bite? Is it the venom only or is there also a concomitant bacterial infection element that also leads to death? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2022, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-chemistss-perspective-what-actually-kills-the-victim-of-a-snake-bite/975101/2 "2022-11-17T20:28:41Z")
Different snakes have different types of venom. Some are neurotoxins that literally shut down your nervous system (which, in theory, can be fought by placing you on a life support machine, and I believe it has been done). Other snakes produce venom that causes cellular damage, which is usually what kills the victim. Some, I think, cause organ failure. In most cases, it is not infection that causes death. That is the Komodo dragon’s thing. And, [sometimes the snake loses](https://www.iflscience.com/cobra-dies-after-receiving-child-bite-in-india-66216). ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2022, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-chemistss-perspective-what-actually-kills-the-victim-of-a-snake-bite/975101/3 "2022-11-17T20:34:55Z")
From Google: > Snake venom is typically neurotoxic, which means that it **interferes with the transmission of nerve impulses**. It generally has an immobilising effect, either making a victim’s body turn rigid or become limp. Neurotoxicity and haemotoxicity are not the only effects venoms can have, nor are they mutually exclusive. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2022, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-chemistss-perspective-what-actually-kills-the-victim-of-a-snake-bite/975101/4 "2022-11-17T20:41:56Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > That is the Komodo dragon’s thing. And actually, that’s a myth. Cite: > **[Here Be Dragons: The Mythic Bite of the Komodo](https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/here-be-dragons-the-mythic-bite-of-the-komodo)** > > Here Be Dragons: The Mythic Bite of the Komodo ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2022, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-chemistss-perspective-what-actually-kills-the-victim-of-a-snake-bite/975101/5 "2022-11-17T20:52:26Z")
Poking around on google, it turns out that the wikipedia page on snake venom has a good description of the different types of venom and how they work: > **[Snake venom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_venom)** > > Snake venom is a highly toxic saliva containing zootoxins that facilitates in the immobilization and digestion of prey. This also provides defense against threats. Snake venom is injected by unique fangs during a bite, whereas some species are also able to spit venom. > The glands that secrete zootoxins are a modification of the parotid salivary glands found in other vertebrates and are usually located on each side of the head, below and behind the eye, and enclosed in a muscular sheath. The ven... ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-chemistss-perspective-what-actually-kills-the-victim-of-a-snake-bite/975101/7 "2022-11-17T21:57:11Z")
Bottom line: the acute, deleterious and fatal effects of snake venom dominate. If you can survive those through timely and proper treatment, any infectious complications should be much less of a problem. I’d be a lot more concerned about infectious properties of a human bite compared to a snakebite. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-chemistss-perspective-what-actually-kills-the-victim-of-a-snake-bite/975101/8 "2022-11-18T01:42:04Z")
There’s a range of venomness of snakes though, and the amount of venom can vary from bite to bite for a number of reasons, so any bite that is survivable due to the dose of venom not being lethal has the _potential_ to lead to gangrene and sepsis. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-chemistss-perspective-what-actually-kills-the-victim-of-a-snake-bite/975101/9 "2022-11-18T04:43:02Z")
Thanks naita. That clarifies things. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-chemistss-perspective-what-actually-kills-the-victim-of-a-snake-bite/975101/10 "2022-11-18T22:06:24Z")
I’ve heard that, on the whole, snakebites are much less dangerous, as far as infection goes, than are mammal bites. This is in part because reptiles don’t get rabies, specifically, and in part because the kinds of bacteria that thrive at reptile-mouth temperatures struggle at mammal-body temperatures, and vice-versa. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2023, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-chemistss-perspective-what-actually-kills-the-victim-of-a-snake-bite/975101/11 "2023-11-16T23:17:49Z")
Not true. Snakes don’t carry rabies, of course, but they can carry a number of pathogenic bacteria which can cause disease in humans, including salmonellosis, botulism, leptospirosis, and campylobacteriosis, among others. Some of these, like the _Salmonella_ bacteria, can be transmitted just by handling and incidental contact with mouth or mucosal surfaces. All bite wounds from snakes and other reptiles should be irrigated, disinfected, and kept under observation for signs of infection. With venomous snakes, the toxin is generally the immediate concern and causes an acute response, but often they either won’t inject venom or don’t have enough to cause serious harm. You’ll know within a few tens of minutes or faster if you’ve been injected, but either way the wound should still be cleaned and disinfected because getting septicaemia is scarcely less fun than dying from snake venom or getting your leg torn off by a giant monitor lizard. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2023, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-chemistss-perspective-what-actually-kills-the-victim-of-a-snake-bite/975101/12 "2023-11-19T00:38:48Z")
Luckily the article linked to by eschereal provides practical advice on what to do if bitten by a venomous snake: grab some chickens, pluck the feathers from their butts, and apply their anuses, one at a time, to the bite. Ignorance fought once again!