Vitamin C to treat snake bite?

Below was an email question from a good client this morning....

Many bushmen when far from veterinary help carry a small

kit consisting of .. 50 ml injectable quality ascorbic acid,

 a disposal syringe and a couple of 18g needles///

if your dog is bitten they inject 20 ml under the loose skin

at the back of the neck  , repeat in 1 hour .   Is this a good

1st Aid treatment or just and old bushman's tale /

Ascorbic acid is commonly known as vitamin C. It acts as an anti oxidant and free radical absorbing compound within the body (amongst other things).

I too have heard similar comments about snake bite whilst treating many cases in "the bush" (dairy farming was great for also farming brown and tiger snakes through irrigation channels).

In 2001 there was also some debate from memory in the Australian veterinary community about whether vitamin C would in fact be a good treatment, as;

1. There were reports it worked

2. It was cheap (especially compare to anti-venom

3. It has very little side effect

Most of the reports were by vets giving the vitamin C intravenously, it under the skin or subcutaneously.

Initially reports were incredibly encouraging, except that when they were scrutinised the reports were pretty dodgy. Nothing further than hearsay and conjecture. From my knowledge, I don't believe the theory went any further, and further supportive evidence has never come forward.

In my opinion it would help with some aspect of snake envenomation, such as the toxic changes to blood cells (haemolysis), but it doesn't help with the nervous tissue effects or other organ failures.

I have treated scores of snake bites,  - brown snake, tiger and red belly blacks. By far without any hesitation, treatment with anti-venom is the most successful, if treated early. But it comes at considerable cost. And importantly, not guaranteed. Brown snakes are most deadly followed by tiger then black.

But to the question - would I just give my dog vitamin C when treating snake bite. No. Clearly no.

But would I give my dog vitamin C if I were not able to access snake anti-venom and had nothing else to lose? Good question.

So directly my comment would be....... bushmans tale.