A KINGAROY man has spent Saturday night in hospital in Brisbane after being bitten twice by a brown snake, the second-most venomous snake in the world.
It's believed the man, aged in his 40s, stepped out of his ute and on to the metre-long snake while while working on his property on Saturday afternoon.
He was originally taken to hospital in Kingaroy but needed to be airlifted to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in a serious but stable condition for further treatment at about 4.30pm.
The RACQ Careflight medical team praised the man's quick response to the bites.
"He remained calm, lay down, rang for help and put a compression bandage on his leg – he was very level headed," pilot Simon Newman said.
A Careflight spokeswoman stopped short of saying the man's actions saved his life but said they certainly made some difference to his condition.
"Our medical crews were very impressed with this man and his reaction to what would be a really terrifying situation and quite shocking," she said.
"You're bitten twice and it would be very rapid. He knew he was in trouble and he's gone through the whole process of self-administering this snake bite procedure in a calm way.
He did everything you should do. He immobilised himself, made the very important phone call and then put a compression bandage on his wound and waited for help."
It was one of four missions for the Toowoomba team overnight and the third snake bite patient Careflight has treated and transferred in January, the twelfth in 17 weeks.
The spokeswoman said she believed this was an increase over the same period last year but didn't have the exact figures to hand.
Careflight doctors recommend snake bite victims stay calm and limit body movement to prevent the venom spreading – just as the Kingaroy man did.
"Call triple zero immediately and apply a bandage to the bite, wrapping it tightly around the area to compress it," Careflight chief medical officer Allan MacKillop said.
"Don't try to kill or capture the snake as people can find they are bitten a second time.
"Medical facilities don't need the snake for identification."
