ALBANY - A 2-year-old boy died from the bite of a 5-foot diamondback rattlesnake on a weekend family outing. <br>
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Matthew Oliver of Leesburg was walking with his aunt and uncle near the Flint River at the Sportsmans Club late Sunday when he picked up a moss-covered stick. <br>
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The uncle, Roger Sullivan, said his wife, Anita, told Matthew to drop the stick in case there were ants on it, and when he did the snake coiled beneath it bit him in the left thigh at least twice. <br>
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``We were just casually strolling along, enjoying the day, when everything happened so fast,'' Sullivan said. <br>
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He said his nephew apparently dropped the stick on the snake, causing it to strike. <br>
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Sullivan took a rope from his truck and tied it around the boy's leg. The family then called Emergency Medical Services before rushing Matthew to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, where he was treated with more than 30 vials of anti-venom over a 12-hour period. <br>
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Although he seemed to respond well to treatment, Sullivan said his nephew developed complications and died at 8:30 a.m. Monday. <br>
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``I just think that there was so much venom inside his little body that the anti-venom just couldnt fight it off,'' Sullivan said. <br>
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Steve Ruckel, a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, said large snakes such as the Eastern Diamondback are very poisonous. <br>
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``It's one thing if it's a 200-pound man,'' Ruckel said, ``but here you've got a small child and a good-sized snake with a lot of venom.'' <br>
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, there are about 7,000 venomous snakebites reported in the United States each year, 15 of which prove fatal.
