A California hospital ran out of antivenom after an Idaho man, bitten twice by a rattlesnake, needed 54 doses to survive.
Chris Howarth, from Meridian, Idaho, was inspecting the waterline at his parents’ house in Oroville, California, when the snake attacked him. Believing he had stepped on something sharp, he looked down and spotted the rattlesnake.
He was bitten by the snake twice on his lower right leg, with one of the bites striking a vein and sending the venom directly into his bloodstream.
“I went inside. My wife thought I was joking,” Howarth told SFGate. He said that he then showed her his leg and she, along with his children, began “freaking out.”
He said he was experiencing symptoms like a numb tongue, enlarged lymph nodes, and difficulty breathing as a result of the venom by the time his wife got him to the Oroville hospital. Unfortunately, the antivenom only briefly relieved the symptoms he experienced, and they returned a few hours later.
He ended up spending 12 days in the hospital
Howarth then developed a serious blood clotting issue on his third day in the hospital, putting him at risk of bleeding out. On day six, the hospital ran out of the antivenom that they were using to manage his condition.
Chris was then helicoptered to Stanford Hospital for additional treatment. Doctors there experimented with a different antivenom, which ultimately alleviated his symptoms.
In total, he spent 12 days in the hospital, mostly in the intensive care unit, and received 36 antivenom doses in Oroville and 18 in Stanford.
According to a GoFundMe for Howarth, “[His wife] Jenny was away from work as she stayed by Chris’ side to help care for him. Chris has been unable to work during this time and for an unknown amount of time in the future as he is home and still healing. He is still getting blood work done and receiving follow-up care from his doctor.”