Snake in a dryer vent

CraigS1001 said:

I wish we had a picture of YOUR face when you reached in and found that rascal!

"wished i had a pic of the home owner's face when i pulled it out "

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Steve762us said:

A woman in Charlton County was bitten by a venomous snake in her clothes dryer, a few years ago. Can't recall what type of snake, but the bite was fatal.

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CraigS1001 said:

I wish we had a picture of YOUR face when you reached in and found that rascal!

"wished i had a pic of the home owner's face when i pulled it out "

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rifleroom said:

If I'm not mistaken, it was a cottonmouth.

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FOLKSTON -- The death of an 18-year-old Charlton County high school student from a venomous snake bite has the victim's parents so upset they may sell their house, a family member said yesterday.

"Her mom and dad are moving out of that house," said Rhonda Davis, the victim's sister-in-law. "There's no way they can live there now."

Audrey McIntosh died at 3 a.m. yesterday after clinging to life since Sunday, when she was flown to Shands Jacksonville hospital.

Davis said family members were shocked by the death because McIntosh emerged from a drug-induced coma Thursday and seemed to be recovering.

"We had so many high hopes [Thursday]," Davis said. "It's a very hard blow."

An autopsy will be conducted to determine the type of snake that caused the death. Doctors told family members they suspected a cottonmouth rattlesnake <- say what? bite, Davis said.

McIntosh, a senior at Charlton County High School, was bitten inside her home when she reached into a laundry basket to remove clothes, Sheriff Dobie Conner said.

She ran to a neighbor's house for help about a half-mile away to call for help because there was no telephone at home, Conner said.

Mark Patterson, a zoologist in Atlanta with a Ph.D. in herpetology on venomous snakes, said 3,000 to 6,000 people are bitten each year by venomous snakes in the United States. But only an average of eight people die from snake bites annually, he said.

"It's fairly unusual to die from a venomous snake bite," Patterson said. "She's going to fall in a rare category."

While paramedics speculated the physical exertion of running to a neighbor's house helped spread venom throughout her body, Patterson said it probably didn't make her condition worse.

"Running to a neighbor's house was inconsequential to her death," Patterson said. "She probably had a biological makeup that made her more sensitive to venom than the average person."

If McIntosh would have been bitten by the same snake in a hospital with medical staff on hand to treat her immediately, Patterson said she still may have died.

Conner said McIntosh was the first person he knew of who had died from a snake bite in his 30 years as a law enforcement official in Charlton County.

"You just assume in your house, that's a safe haven for you," Conner said. "It's so odd. It's such a weird thing for this to happen in the laundry room."

McIntosh's parents, Art and Glenda Davis, are in seclusion as they try to cope with their daughter's death and were unavailable for comment, Davis said. Both parents have second-guessed what would have happened if they would have been at home or if a telephone was available, Davis said.

The snake probably got into the house to seek relief from the hot, dry weather conditions and bit McIntosh out of defense when she reached into a laundry basket to remove clothes, Patterson said. News of the death was taken especially hard by McIntosh's classmates at Charlton County High School, where counselors met with students throughout the day, said Deborah Hanzel, a school counselor.

Some students left school early as news drifted through the hallways, Hanzel said.

"All the kids have been affected by this," Hanzel said.

A moment of silence was held after classes started and the school's flag was lowered to half staff in McIntosh's memory, Hanzel said.

"She was a very articulate, well-behaved student," Hanzel said. "She was a sweet girl."

Eighteen balloons, one for each year of her life, also were released outside the school in her memory, Davis said.

"They all drifted into the clouds," Davis said. "Not one of them burst."

McIntosh was a choir member who excelled in art classes and history, Hanzel said.

A moment of silence also was scheduled before last night's football game in Camden County, Hanzel said.

Funeral arrangements haven't been announced because of the family's uncertainty about how long an autopsy will take, Davis said. The autopsy should be completed in three to five days, Davis said.

Twelve people died from snake bites in Georgia between 1979 and 1998, according to officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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