Yesterday one of our members (Daneel) also known as Chondro on this forum had a run in with a Blunt nose levant/lebatine viper. The proper name is Macrovipera lebitina obtusa.
The snake (almost a meter long sub adult) was confiscated from a smuggler at OR Tambo airport and is being held until the end of the court case and then it will be disposed off accordingly because Pretoria Zoo do not keep venomous snakes for which they don't have antivenom. Yesterday Daneel was busy cleaning the water dish when he leaned in to replace it his glasses fell into the cage. He is virtually blind without them and he knew the snake was on the other side of the cage. Using the hook he tried to pull them closer and then pick them up but the snake had come closer and as he grabbed the glasses the snake struck him on the left hand with both fangs. He started walking towards where his colleagues were and felt a hot flush and he collapsed. Assuming it was shock he got up and phoned me. From the symptoms he already had I assumed it was going to be a bumpy ride and advised him to get to a decent hospital as quickly as possible.
An ambulance was called but after 20 minutes he rather caught a lift with a friend. The doctors obviously had no clue about the bite and knew that we have no antivenom that would help. I hurried back from where I was way out of town and tried to contact anyone else with experience of Macrovipera bites. Most were asleep or not near their computers. I advised them as far as what I could explaining that this is one of the more serious bites a person can have and could be rather a major event.
By 3 hours post bite we managed to raise Dr Sean Bush in California and with his advice and best wishes went to the ICU to see the patient.
At that stage his blood results were slightly unstable but still acceptable.
This morning he looks a bit better but reading his blood results he is going to have bad times before he feels better. The swelling has extended to the top of his arm and the skin is turning red.
I have spent the best part of the afternoon chatting to Dr Brian Fry and he is not happy with the blood results and warns of some bad times to come for the patient. We will have to wait and hope for the best.