Accidents.co.za | Discussion, Prevention, Investigation and Response

Green Mamba

An elderly woman, thought to be a Siberian National, bitten twice by a Green Mamba while crossing Umdloti Link Road is fighting for her life in the Netcare St Umhlanga Hospital.

It is alleged that the woman had been crossing the road near a local shopping centre when a car passing by ran over the snake which had also been on the roadway. The reptile thereafter bit the woman twice on her lower leg.

Netcare911 Paramedics arrived to the find the woman at the roadside in a critical condition after the snake’s venom which is predominantly neurotoxic, had taken effect.

She was intubated and placed on a manual ventilator by Netcare911 Advanced Life Support Paramedic Naven Pullian and his team. She was stabilised there before being airlifted by the Netcare 3 Aeromedical Helicopter to hospital for essential and definitive medical intervention.

Metro police at the scene killed the injured animal and identified it.

Jeffrey Wicks
Netcare 911

African Puff adder

A 27 year old man is in a serious condition after been bitten by a Puff Adder on the Spitkop farm between Kimberly and Petrusburg this morning. It is believed that the man was spraying poison in a field when the Puff Adder struck him on the right leg.

Farmers raced the patient to a clinic in Petrusburg for treatment. Netcare 911 was dispatched to the clinic and worked fervently to stabilise the seriously injured man. Paramedics then transferred the patient to the Netcare Pelonomi Hospital in Bloemfontein for specialised treatment.

Identification of the snake

A) Average length 90 cm
B) Max. length 1,4 meters
C) A short stubby snake with a triangular head distinct from the rest of the body
D) Yellow with distinct backward – pointing chevrons on the back
E) May hiss or puff when disturbed
F) Usually found on the ground and in pathways
G) Very active after sunset

Adder venom is predominantly cytotoxic, meaning that it is responsible for destruction of blood vessels and tissue. Symptoms are localised and often extremely painful, followed by severe swelling as a result of the internal bleeding, and in some case are accompanied with blistering and death of the tissue.

Chris Botha

Netcare 911