A Pennsylvania rattlesnake bite killed a man who was building a fire at a camp over the weekend.
Russell E. Davis, of Freedom, died early Sunday morning after a rattlesnake bit him while he and his girlfriend were on a camping trip in Elk County
, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Davis, 39, was placing wood into the campfire just before midnight on Saturday at his family’s camp about 125 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in Medix Run when he was suddenly bitten by a rattlesnake, according to Armstrong County Coroner Brian Myers.
“He went running into the camp and told his girlfriend to take him to a hospital,” Myers told the Post-Gazette.
The couple then quickly drove off. As the venom began to move through his veins, Davis began to experience severe breathing problems. His girlfriend then stopped by a local bar for help. By the time the ambulance arrived, provided CPR, and took him away to Penn Highlands Health Care in St. Marys, Davis was already in “acute respiratory distress,” Myers said.
The coroner was told by staff at Penn Highlands that anti-venom treatment was given to Davis before he was put in a medical helicopter in order for him to be transported to a Pittsburgh hospital for more treatment. However, once on the helicopter, Davis went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at 5:23 a.m. after landing at ACMH Hospital in Armstrong Country.
Davis’ cause of death was the result of an anaphylactic reaction to the venomous snake bite.
“People react differently to snake venom. I don’t know where on his body the bite was, or what other health conditions he might have had,” Ray Bamrick,
Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium worker, told CBS Pittsburgh.