Wednesday, February 12, 2014

There's a Snake Where?!

 A patient showed up today with a tourniquet on his finger claiming he had been bitten by a snake. Around here, snakes are extremely dangerous, and any bite is taken seriously. As such, it is important to identify the species of the snake to know how serious the bite may become. After examining the elderly mans finger, which was only mildly swollen, I asked the man if he saw the snake that bit him (in attempt to identify what type it was). He did not speak a lot of english, but he said something to me in Zulu and pointed to his pocket. Then to my surprise, he pulls out a wadded up grocery sack and hands it to me. It was tied tightly shut and I had the hunch of what might be in that bag. 

I was right! He had the snake in his pocket! Eeek! Luckily it was very dead. 
One of the other doctors who is quite the snake expert came and looked at it and identified it as a "stiletto" snake, which can be quite dangerous. This man had managed to kill it before it had injected too much venom, however, and he seemed to be okay for now. 

Only in Africa would your patient bring the snake that bit him in his pocket. Haha.

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