A 72-year-old man in China needed two months of treatment after the severed head of a cobra bit his hand, even though the snake's body had already been cut away, Mothership reported.
The man, identified only as Zhang, went fishing in May when he noticed a cobra nearby. Fearing that trying to walk away would provoke the snake into attacking him, he decided to strike first, grabbing a shovel and cutting off the cobra's head.
Bitten by a severed head
About five minutes later, Zhang approached the severed head to pick it up. It immediately clamped onto his hand. Because the fangs had sunk in deeply, it took considerable effort to pry the head off. Zhang went straight to the nearest hospital.
Roughly 20 minutes after the bite, his hand had swollen severely, his vision had blurred, he felt discomfort in his chest and he began vomiting.
Emergency treatment and recovery
Doctors administered antivenom in time, but the hand still swelled badly, forcing medics to perform emergency surgery at the bite site to prevent necrosis from setting in. Zhang endured intense pain for a long time afterward and could not sleep for the first three days following the bite because he kept dreaming of a headless snake. He only fully recovered recently.
Zhang said he would never again act so recklessly, adding that the ordeal had cost him far too much.
Similar snakebite incident
Cobras are venomous snakes found across parts of Asia and Africa, known for the ability of some species to strike even after sustaining serious injury due to residual nerve reflexes in the head.
It was previously reported that in China, a woman had sucked venom from her husband's hand after he was bitten by a cobra and ended up poisoned herself. The woman survived after receiving treatment.
