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Ed Yeates reportingToxicologists and snake experts in at least three western states are concerned about rattlesnake venom that appears to be more toxic and dangerous to humans.
Over the next several months, as more hikers hit the trails, expect to see a few rattlesnakes now and then. That's normal, but what's not is what may be coming out of the mouths of these snakes.
"It's an anomaly we haven't seen before." That's how one researcher at the University of Colorado describes how sick some people are getting from the bite of a rattlesnake -- sicker than what you'd normally expect.
There's been an increase in potentially deadly symptoms in at least five cases in Arizona, and toxicologists at the University of California San Diego wonder if they're experiencing an evolved or modified venom.
At Hogle Zoo, Jeff Landry, who knows a lot about rattlesnakes, says if there is a change, it didn't occur suddenly last year but gradually over a long period of time. Perhaps, he says, we're just encroaching in areas where a sub-type of a rattlesnake has been residing.
Landry says hikers may also be encountering two different populations of rattlesnakes with two different kinds of venom that Utah researchers at the Salt Lake Veterans' Hospital identified more than 30 years ago.
"They actually found that there's two separate populations of rattlesnakes. One of them has a venom that affects you more as a traditional rattlesnake would: You get bit, you get localized pain, swelling and stuff like that. The other population has more of a neurotoxic component. That would be something like a cobra, a Crete or a mamba, or something like that. It still gives you the localized pain, but it actually will shut your respiratory system down," Landry said.
In any case, Arizona physicians and ER personnel have been notified to be on the lookout for symptoms which might be mistaken for other ailments -- symptoms that could delay the use of antivenoms. No such cases have been reported in Utah.
E-mail: eyeates@ksl.com