Australian Teen Survives After Being Bitten By World's Deadliest Snake
An Australian teenage boy is now fighting for his life after being bitten by the world's deadliest snake, which possess venom so poisonous that one drop of it can kill 100 men within 45 minutes.
The 17-year-old took himself to the hospital Wednesday just north of Sydney after being bitten on his left hand by an Inland Taipan also known as the Fierce Snake. The boy is now in serious but stable condition after being given anti-venom.
Wildlife experts are amazed that the boy even survived the first hour because a drop of Inland Taipan venom is enough to kill 100 people, or 250,000 mice, and causes severe hemorrhaging and paralysis.
While they are astonished by the boy's survival, they are also mystified by the fact that he was bitten in the small town of Kurri Kurri, which is more than 600 miles away from the deadly snake's natural desert habitat in northwest New South Wales and western Queensland.
The boy had brought the snake with him when he went to the hospital, and it is unclear whether the snake had been killed or whether it was still alive in a container.
"Police are now attempting to establish how the youth came to be bitten, and hope to speak to the young man once he is considered well enough," New South Wales police said in a statement. Investigators do not believe that the incident was related to a break-in at the nearby Hunter Valley Zoo where four pythons and two alligators were stolen on Sunday, the statement added.
Officials at Mater hospital in Newcastle City said that the anti-venom was crucial for the boy's survival. "We had anti-venom in stock, we keep what's called polyvalent anti-venom and that covers all of our snakes," toxicologist Geoff Isbister told ABC News.
The Inland Taipan is a shy and reclusive type of snake. It can grow up to six and a half feet and it has 12 0.1-inch fangs.