Toddler in Fair Condition After Rattlesnake Bite

An 18-month-old Santee girl who was bitten on the hand by a rattlesnake was listed in fair condition Thursday at Children’s Hospital.

Donielle Plant was playing in her yard on Wycliffe Street when the baby rattlesnake struck about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Doctors at Grossmont Hospital, where she was first treated, had difficulty locating the bite because the toddler has chicken pox, said hospital spokeswoman Randi Kroesch. But her father, Donald Plant said he was sure she had been bitten because she screamed.

Plant told authorities he killed the foot-long snake with a shovel after he found it coiled and ready to strike near his daughter. He said he knew it was a rattlesnake because he had recently killed five others around the neighborhood. Spring is generally when rattlesnakes come out of hibernation.

He brought the headless snake to the hospital for identification, and once doctors doctors verified she had been bitten, a rattlesnake antivenin was administered, Kroesch said. Once her condition was stabilized, Plant was transported to Children’s Hospital for further treatment.

Donielle will remain hospitalized after she is removed from intensive care to recover from the bite and the chicken pox, said Mark Morelli, spokesman for Children’s Hospital.

“Our primary concern is for the site of the bite,” Morelli said. “We’re watching the circulation to her fingers and for any damage to the skin tissue in the palm of the hand.”

Children’s Hospital treats about six rattlesnake bites a year, mostly in the spring, said Dr. Buzz Kaufman, the hospital’s director of patient services.

The bites are rarely fatal, he said. About 40,000 snake bites are reported in the United States each year, but only about 12 are fatal, he said. “If administered in the first hour after the bite, the anti-venomous serum is very effective.”

Kaufman said half of all snakebite victims are children, and boys younger than 10 are four times as likely as girls to be bitten, according to national statistics.

Snakes are passive, so it is unlikely that people will be bitten while hiking unless the snakes are disturbed, said Kaufman. About half of the adult victims were intoxicated, he said.

Parents should warn their children not to play with snakes or any wild animal, he said. Snake bites are extremely painful and cause swelling. The venom can attack the blood, skin tissue and nervous system if untreated.

If a person is bitten, he or she should be kept still while waiting for paramedics to arrive, or can be taken to a hospital emergency room if one is close by.

Because most victims can be taken to an emergency room for treatment, doctors don’t recommend cutting and suctioning the wound or using a tourniquet.