Nanci
Alien Lover
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1209445.html
The Associated Press
MIAMI -- It didn't look good for the 3-year-old Iraqi girl. Eight hours had passed since the saw-scaled viper bit her hand. Now her blood was thinning and pooling in her thorax and abdominal cavity.
But a call on Saturday to the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's Antivenom Unit for some expert advice thousands of miles away may have saved her life. After the girl showed up at a U.S. military base near Baghdad, officials called the Florida unit.
Capt. Ernie Jillson was at home surveying his lawn when he get the call. Jillson, the head of the unit and a military reservist who served previously in Iraq, knows what kind of snakes lurk in that area. Vipers are common there and can be aggressive if encroached upon.
Jillson consulted with doctors and told them that because their patient was a small girl they needed to administer a higher dosage of the horse-blood based antivenom over a longer-than-usual period of time to avoid complications. He also warned them of the possibility of anaphylactic shock, an adverse reaction to the antivenom.
"It is kind of unique that they're calling me all the way from Iraq," he said. "We're not only here to outreach to our own citizens but to citizens across the whole world."
He said the girl remained in critical condition, but was improving.
Jillson had already taken two others calls that day - a black widow bite in South Miami-Dade and a coral snake bite in New Smyrna Beach. Saturday's call was the second in the last several months from Iraq.
The venom unit also was busy earlier this week when a cable company worker was bitten by a poisonous Eastern green mamba snake. Jillson said the bite briefly paralyzed the right side of the 44-year-old Comcast worker's body. The venom is potentially lethal.
The Associated Press
MIAMI -- It didn't look good for the 3-year-old Iraqi girl. Eight hours had passed since the saw-scaled viper bit her hand. Now her blood was thinning and pooling in her thorax and abdominal cavity.
But a call on Saturday to the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's Antivenom Unit for some expert advice thousands of miles away may have saved her life. After the girl showed up at a U.S. military base near Baghdad, officials called the Florida unit.
Capt. Ernie Jillson was at home surveying his lawn when he get the call. Jillson, the head of the unit and a military reservist who served previously in Iraq, knows what kind of snakes lurk in that area. Vipers are common there and can be aggressive if encroached upon.
Jillson consulted with doctors and told them that because their patient was a small girl they needed to administer a higher dosage of the horse-blood based antivenom over a longer-than-usual period of time to avoid complications. He also warned them of the possibility of anaphylactic shock, an adverse reaction to the antivenom.
"It is kind of unique that they're calling me all the way from Iraq," he said. "We're not only here to outreach to our own citizens but to citizens across the whole world."
He said the girl remained in critical condition, but was improving.
Jillson had already taken two others calls that day - a black widow bite in South Miami-Dade and a coral snake bite in New Smyrna Beach. Saturday's call was the second in the last several months from Iraq.
The venom unit also was busy earlier this week when a cable company worker was bitten by a poisonous Eastern green mamba snake. Jillson said the bite briefly paralyzed the right side of the 44-year-old Comcast worker's body. The venom is potentially lethal.
