Posted on 08/31/2009 11:10:22 AM PDT by nickcarraway
It was only earlier this month that a Miami-Dade fire station was named the busiest in the nation.
Now we are learning that the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Antivenom Unit is one of the most respected in the world. On Saturday, after a 3-year-old girl in Iraq was bitten by a saw-scaled viper, American military officials placed a call to Capt. Ernie Jillson, head of the antivenom unit as well as a military reservist.
Jillson, who was tending to his lawn in Davie, 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 venom unit also was busy earlier this week when a cable company worker was bitten by a poisonous Eastern green mamba snake.”
Good Lord, I did not know green mamba snakes were native to Florida??? I presume this is one that someone had in captivity and let it go. Mamba venom is particularly bad business. I pray mambas are not reproducing in Florida.
Green mambas are NOT native to Florida. They are native to Africa. It probably escaped captivity during a hurricane.
Here is the story.
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Man-Dances-With-Death-After-Green-Mamba-Attack-53874777.html
WTF! How did a cable worker get bitten by a green mamba?
Good heavens! There is another reason to avoid Florida like the plague!
Hmmm. I understand why the snake bit someone who worked for a cable company.
An individual green (or black) mamba could survive in Florida quite well. Adequate food sources and a climate not that much different from their native Africa. While a stray mamba is clearly a menace, it is nothing compared to the situation if a breeding population of mambas get established.
Snakes are nothing compared to “Miami-Dade” drivers.
As a former resident (99-02) of said county, I always thought the changing of the name to “Miami-Dade” was ridiculous. It was at the behest of a County Commission that wanted a consolidated government a la Indianapolis and Nashville. Thankfully, all they got changed was the name.
This reminds me of the consolidated government attempt that occurred her in Knox Co., TN abut 12 years ago. All of the "good government" libs were for it. Then it ran into a fatal double barrier: the blacks of east Knoxville and the whites of exurban west Knox County. The blacks didn't anybody diluting their vote on the Knoxville city council. The exurban whites, your truly included, didn't want to share their checking accounts with the city's "needs." This remarkable inter-racial harmony sank the metro government idea as deeply and decisively as the Yamato was sunk at the end of WWII.
I didn’t think they were native. after reading the story, I now wonder if “someone” has purposely imported it/them for just the purpose we are reading about.
Either it was accidentally released from a zoo exhibit or lab that milks them for venom, or some idiot illegally owned it and it got away.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.