There are billions of living beings in the world, just talking about humans, if we go to the number of reptiles, insects and other forms of life, we can imagine that the world is considerably populated.
There is a great variety of predators, each one with its particular weapons, with which they attack to defend themselves, to obtain food and to survive. Within the living species we have reptiles, and within these we have a fairly broad sub-classification, but let's simplify with the following: some have legs (such as iguanas) and others do not, such as snakes, vipers, snakes. Although I know that these last two terms are often used as synonyms, they really have their differences.
Some even have the ability to "fly", taking advantage of the flexibility of their body and the possibility of changing it to use the air to propel themselves. The classification is really very extensive and escapes the purpose I am pursuing with this publication, so I will stop and focus on talking about the poison of these and that they produce in our body that are capable of causing death.
The ones that are poisonous, to define it once and for all, are the vipers. These, depending on their shape and type may have a venom that affects the blood and tissues in very different ways, and depending on this will be their effect, but the following is accepted as a general classification:
- Proteolytic venom:
I have commented in other opportunities that of the most important macromolecules that we have in our organism and that are a fundamental part of each cell are the proteins. This type of venom is capable of disintegrating it, which literally translates into the death of the tissue, firstly of the one located in the bite, but when it enters the bloodstream, it will produce the same reaction in a systemic way.
- Coagulant venom:
This type of poison what it causes is a process of blood coagulation at the site of injury but also systemic, i.e., throughout the body.
This is really catastrophic, because the formation of clots causes an infarction where a blood vessel is obstructed, for example at the renal, intestinal or cardiac level, which causes a rapid death if not treated with the antidote. In addition, the local damage at the site of the lesion is very fast and painful.
- Hemolytic venom:
In this case the mechanism of action of the poisons is the destruction of blood cells, very specifically red blood cells, to understand this much better you need to know the following:
*Red blood cells contain hemoglobin, and this is the main transport of oxygen, which is necessary to produce energy in all our cells so that they can function, if oxygen does not arrive, the metabolism of the affected tissues stops, and the tissue dies.
Depending on the site of injury, and its proximity, for example, to vital organs such as the heart, it can cause death very quickly.
- Neurotoxic venom:
This substance when inoculated by the viper in the organism, has an effect on the nervous system, very specifically in a microscopic place called "motor plate ". This is the space where the nerves join the muscles and it is basically what allows the nervous impulse to reach the muscle and generate the movement.
On the one hand we can see that it will produce a paralysis of the whole body, this is generated slowly, but what causes death in the person is specifically the paralysis of the diaphragm and the rest of the respiratory muscles, if the person is not attended quickly, and put on a respirator, it is most likely that he/she will die.
In relation to snake bites, unfortunately if we do not act quickly, death can be imminent. But even with timely treatment the possibilities of local (at the site of the bite) and systemic level complications are many, so the ideal is that we can avoid exposure.
Some years ago I knew of a case of a person who went for a ride on a mountain, cycling with a friend, as usual, being in a high area was bitten by a viper. Both were frightened and both pedaled quickly to a nearby hospital, arrived in a few minutes, but still died, despite the efforts of health personnel, What was the reason?, that by pedaling quickly allowed the poison to disperse throughout his body.
It is a tragic story, it really is, but it is best not to expose ourselves to this type of situation, because we might not be very lucky.
I hope with this publication you now have a better idea of what snakes produce when they bite a person.