This horrifying photo shows a young girl’s leg withered and completely blackened after a snake bite. The venom caused severe gangrene — premature cell death — leading to the necrosis, withering, and rotting of her leg muscles.
The 13-year-old girl suffered from severe gangrene — premature cell death — due to the snake bite. She was finally taken to a hospital in Carcaras after receiving folk treatment for a month.
According to Instagram user juventudmedica, who uploaded this photo, the unidentified 13-year-old girl initially received folk treatment locally. A month later, she was finally brought to Carcaras, Venezuela, for medical care. A doctor who viewed the photo told the Daily Mail that the girl needed an amputation but was still at risk of dying from the snake venom. Arun Ghosh, a private doctor in Liverpool, said: “Snake venom is very difficult to treat, and it depends on what kind of snake bit her. The photo clearly shows severe tissue gangrene that requires amputation. The lower part of the leg is completely black, and the area of blackness is still spreading. You can see from the rest of her body that the venom is causing muscle atrophy elsewhere. The rest of the leg is also very thin. Death is slowly closing in on her.” He added that the symptoms caused by the gangrene are called rhabdomyolysis, where muscle tissue throughout the body dies. This leads to kidney necrosis, accompanied by low blood pressure, resulting in kidney failure and, if left untreated, death.
The treatment she received locally meant she was given antibiotics, but the treatment was ineffective and insufficient to control the damage caused by the venom, which paralyzed nerves and caused blood clotting.
The fer-de-lance snake is very common in Venezuela, and its venom can paralyze the nerves and cause blood clotting in its prey.
Ghosh said: “The girl received typical folk treatment that only addressed the infection from the snake bite. But she likely did not receive antivenom treatment. They failed to stop the spread of the venom.” The caption of the photo stated that the girl also suffered an elbow fracture after falling when bitten by the snake.