A tranquil morning of gardening in San Diego turned into an unexpected ordeal for one woman, culminating in an emergency hospital visit and an urgent lesson on the dangers of rattlesnake season.
Diane Distefano was tending to her garden in University City when she suddenly felt a sharp bite on her hand.
“I wasn’t thinking much of it. I was just pulling out the milkweed without seeing where my hand was,” Distefano shared with CBS 8.
Within an hour, she was back inside her house, noticing two wounds that had begun to swell and change to a bluish-red hue, resembling a snake bite.
With this alarming realization, Distefano hurried to Kaiser Clairemont Mesa Hospital, trying to make sense of the situation.
“Pit vipers or vipers, like the rattlesnakes we have here, leave characteristic puncture marks,” she explained to the outlet. “The puncture wounds were close together, which helped identify it.”
The culprit turned out to be a young rattlesnake.
Doctors called it a âdry biteâ â the snake struck, but no venom was delivered.
Dr. William Woo of Kaiser Permanente said that this is the outcome in roughly 25% of bites.
âSo, assuming that this is a poisonous snake or a venomous snake, what weâll do is we will observe the local area of the bite,” he told CBS 8. “Weâre looking for tissue damage, bruising, spreading of these signs, and even changes in blood work.â
If antivenom is needed, the medical bills can be even scarier than the snake.
A local toddler who needed 30 vials of antivenom in 2024 left the hospital with a $200,000 bill. The insane prices are due to complicated manufacturing, low demand, and major hospital markups, the outlet noted.
Meanwhile, Distefano is still dealing with the aftermath.
âThe doctor told me âit suffered a trauma,â my hand. And itâs going to be a while before some of this stuff goes away,â she said.
With San Diegoâs warm winter fueling a spike in rattlesnake encounters, health officials urged those bitten to stay calm and call 911 immediately.
