Do You KnowThis Man? (snakebite victim still not claimed)

[NicoleRussell]

http://www.local10.com/news/7089043/detail.html



No Callers Claim Man Who Is Still Critical After Snake Bite
No One Has Contacted Police Or Hospital Since Incident

POSTED: 4:27 pm EST February 15, 2006

BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. -- A man, who remains in critical condition after being
bitten by a poisonous snake, may have no family or connections in South
Florida.

Damian Hernandez Rubio, 31, was bitten last Thursday. Pembroke Pines police
were dispatched to Pines Lakes Elementary School, where Rubio, 31, was
behaving strangely. As police were taking Rubio into custody, they noticed
his breathing was interrupted and at one point stopped completely.

Memorial Hospital West, doctors determined that he had been bitten in the
hand by some type of poisonous snake.

Local 10 has learned that no one has responded to the media coverage of
Rubio's hospitalization. His identification indicates that he is from Nuevo
Laredo, Mexico, near Laredo, Texas, and it is believed that he may have been
in South Florida as a day worker.

Police searched the area near the school, but were unable to find the snake.
Without identifying the snake, it is impossible to know what type of
antivenin should be used to treat Rubio.

"In this case, he doesn't seem to be responding to the proper treatment of
snakes native to the United States, so we're leaning to believe that it may
be from another part (of the world)," said Miami-Dade fire-rescue Capt. Al
Cruz with the anti-venom unit. "We carry 43 different anti-venoms that cover
98 percent of all the world's venomous snakes."

Cruz said that he believes the snake might have been Rubio's pet. He said
that of the more than 400 snakebite victims the anti-venom unit has treated,
Rubio's case is one of the top five worst. Rubio has been treated with more
than 50 vials of antivenin -- more than four times the average dose.