A 17-year-old Australian boy is in serious condition after being
bitten by what most reptile experts believe is the world's most venomous
snake.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald,
the boy was admitted to a hospital in the town of Kurri Kurri with
a
snakebite on his left hand. He was later transferred to Calvary Mater
Hospital in Newcastle.
The snake, which was brought still alive to the hospital by the boy's
friend, was identified as an inland taipan. The snake is native to
western New South Wales—about 600 miles from where the boy was bitten.
A spokesman for the Taronga Zoo in Sydney told the paper that a drop
of the snake's venom "can kill 100 adult men and 250,000 mice."
Julie Mendezona, head zookeeper at Australian Reptile Park, told the
paper that reports of inland taipan bites are extremely rare, and that
there have been about 100 in Australia's history. A bite will
effectively "start shutting down the function of messages going to your
brain, to your vital organs, your lungs and your heart and even your
muscles," she said. "So, paralysis is usually what happens with the
patient. Because it can act so fast, being a neurotoxin, that's what
makes it such a deadly animal. It can kill someone within maybe 45
minutes. There have been reports of people experiencing effects of venom
within half an hour as well.
"It also contains an anticoagulant," she added, "which means it will
interfere with the blood clotting, so therefore you can experience
bleeding out as well."
Barry Martin, a veteran snake catcher who was called in to identify the inland taipan, told the Daily Telegraph it's known as a "fierce snake."
"They [used to be] called the 'two-step snake' as in it bites you, you take two steps and you're dead," he said.
