UK Medics Mis-Diagnosis Snake Bite Twice

A 54 year old woman was bitten by  the Adder, Vipera berus, in her garden in Eastleigh. Her ankle swelled, her leg was painful, and she suffered severe headaches. She went to Eastleigh Health Center where the doctor gave her antibiotics and assured her it was not a snakebite.The following day she was still in pain and went to Royal Hampshire County Hospital where the doctors dismissed the claim that she was bitten by a snake.The woman contacted Grange Reptiles and was told by an employee who had been a former paramedic that it was indeed a snakebite. She was admitted to Southampton General Hospital. Hampshire Chronicle, 28 August 2010. Apparently snakebite is rare enough in the UK that medical personnel have not been trained to deal with it. The same is probably true in much of the US.