When a snake bites an average human, the first instinct is to run or scream. But one might say this toddler believes in revenge. This little girl from a village in Bingol, Turkey decided that the snake had messed with the wrong person. So after the snake bit her, she bit the snake back. When neighbors were drawn to the scene courtesy of her scream, they found her clamped onto the snake firmly. As it turns out, vengeance runs pretty deep inside her- for she managed to kill the snake by just biting it. After the neighbors made sure the snake was dead, they took the little kid to the Bingolg Maternity and Children’s Hospital. She was kept under observation for an entire day and then released.[1]
Needless to say, the father of this brave child was relieved. “Allah has protected her, really. Our neighbors have told me that the snake was in the hands of my child, she was playing with it and then it bit her. Then she bit the snake back as a reaction.” The little kid was indeed quite fortunate. Although no further details were provided about the snake bite, it wasn’t lethal. According to WHO, children are usually more vulnerable to lethal snake bites. Usually, snake venom either contains neurotoxins that interfere with one’s nerve impulses, or it might contain hemotoxins. A venomous snake bite can lead to paralysis, organ failure, hemorrhage, and other tissue damage.
Toddler Suffers A Snake Bite- Retaliates!
Mehmet Ercan, the little girl’s father, mentioned, “Our neighbors have told me that the snake was in the hand of my child, she was playing with it and then it bit her. Then she bit the snake back as a reaction.” According to estimates by the WHO, there are around 5.4 million people who are affected by such bites every year. Among the victims, close to 2.7 million get bitten by venomous snakes.
Close to 100,000 people die every year as a result of such snake attacks. And if the records are to be believed, an even greater number suffers from paralysis and amputation. In Turkey itself, close to 550 snake bites were reported from 1995 to 2004 according to the National Poison Information Center. The most common month for the incidents was June- and the incidents usually took place around Marmara, the Black Sea, and Central Anatolia regions.[2]
Although such bites are treatable, antivenoms are often scarce and expensive. Antivenom production currently faces a lot of other problems, as very few countries have the ability and the capacity to produce enough good quality snake venom that one could use for antivenom manufacture. In recent news, a young man from India was bitten by a venomous snake resulting in his death. Unfortunately, the man had been attending the funeral of his brother, who had also been killed by a snake.[3]