Snake vs. Child: Toddler Bites 20-Inch Snake to Death After it Attacked Her First

A 2-year-old girl gave a snake a fatal revenge bite in retaliation after it bit her on the lip.

The young child was bitten on August 10 and is from the Turkish village of Kantar, which is close to Bingol. Her screams were reportedly heard by her neighbors as she was being attacked by the snake in her backyard.

When they got to her, they discovered a 20-inch snake lodged between her teeth and a bite mark on her lip. After the toddler bit the snake in retaliation, the snake eventually died, and the 2-year-old girl was then taken to Bingol Maternity and Children's Hospital to receive medical attention for her wounds. She had been under observation for 24 hours and was doing well.

Snake vs. Child

According to the WHO, children are significantly more susceptible than adults to the venomous adverse effects of snake bites owing to their small body mass. Depending on the type of snake, the venom either contains hemotoxins proteins that prevent blood clotting or neurotoxins that interrupt nerve impulses. Thus, a bite may result in tissue damage, organ failure, hemorrhage, paralysis, and other effects.

Unknown snake species may have been involved in the incident. Turkey has 45 species of snakes, 12 of which are poisonous. The fact that the young girl is not in critical condition suggests that she was fortunate to have been attacked by a non-venomous species.

Mehmet Ercan, the little girl's father, said that his neighbors claimed that while his daughter was holding the snake and playing with it, the snake bit her. Ercan was at work during the ordeal.

He went on to explain that his daughter had responded with a revenge bite.

Snake Bite Statistics

According to World Health Organization (WHO) data, every year, 5.4 million people worldwide are bitten by snakes. Of this large sum, 2.7 million of which are venomous. According to estimates, between 81,000 and 138,000 people per year pass away from snake bites, and three times that number endure permanent paralysis, or sometimes it can even lead to amputation due to the venom.

According to the National Poison Information Center, there were 550 snake bite cases reported in Turkey specifically, where the young child was bitten, in the nine years between 1995 and 2004. The most frequent month, June saw about 24.3% of these incidents, which mainly occurred in the Central Anatolia, Marmara, and the Black Sea regions.

Antivenoms, which are frequently created using the snake's venom, can be used to treat snake bites. However, few nations can produce enough high-quality snake venom for manufacturing antivenom, which presents several challenges for antivenom production, Newsweek reports.

The process used to create antitoxins for tetanus and diphtheria in the 1890s is still largely used to create antivenom today. A small amount of venom is injected into an animal, such as a goat or horse. The animal's immune system releases antibodies to combat the harmful venom, which are later harvested by bleeding. After being concentrated and purified, the blood serum or plasma is turned into pharmaceutical-grade antivenom.