A vacationer is bitten by a venomous snake while going to the toilet

A 47-year-old Dutchman was having a nice vacation in South Africa, until a natural urge to go to the toilet prompted him. Without looking, he raises his glasses and sits down when he suddenly feels a strong burning sensation in his genitals. Snake stuck in the toilet to bite! And not just any snake, a Ringed nagaa species of venomous cobra common in South Africa and neighboring countries.

The man was lost in the bush more than 350 kilometers from the first care centre, and had to wait nearly three hours before a medical helicopter came to pick him up. During these long hours, the burning sensation becomes more and more unbearable and a dull pain begins to rise towards his chest. In a bad case, the victim vomited several times.

Serious bite

When he arrived at the emergency room of a South African hospital, doctors gave him eight doses of an antitoxin to stop the toxin from spreading through his body. If the patient was no longer in danger of dying from poisoning, then the cobra’s bite caused significant damage to his genitals: his penis and scrotum rotted. To prevent the necrosis from getting worse, South African doctors remove a large piece of skin from the patient’s gender. Nine days after the accident, he was returned to the Netherlands in stable condition, but with sequelae: his penis was completely unusable.

Urologists from the Isala Clinic in Zwolle are in charge. After the examination, the plastic surgeon repairs the corpus spongiosum and the foreskin damaged by the cobra bite. After a year, the patient’s penis had regained all function and all that remained from this injury was a scar. Dutch doctors write in conclusion This case study, published in Urology case reports in 2021 :” Our advice? Always flush the toilet before sitting on the toilet in countries known to harbor snakes! »