I spotted this on news 24, anyone know how three people manged to get bitten by the same snake?
http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/89ff52a5cbc34715a3b3847d96e735fb/15-02-2010-03-23/Dont_handle_snakes_-_experts
Don't handle snakes - experts
2010-02-15 15:23
Johannesburg - Experts have warned people not to handle snakes even if they think they are harmless.
Professor Ken Boffard of Milpark Hospital's trauma unit in Johannesburg said on Monday: "In the wake of an incident in which three people were bitten by a highly toxic boomslang recently, people [are warned] not to handle snakes even if they consider them unthreatening and non-toxic."
The three - two local men and a woman tourist from Germany - were bitten by a boomslang near Zeerust in North West on February 6 and had all handled the snake.
They were transported, one by air, to the hospital in Johannesburg and treated with boomslang serum.
Boffard said they were discharged after a three-day stay, said Boffard.
"These victims of the boomslang, which was a juvenile, were exceptionally lucky that their bites were not more serious.
"While exceptionally toxic, the boomslang's venom is very slow acting, which probably counted in the victims' favour," said Boffard.
A snake expert and division chief at the Johannesburg City Council's paramedic training academy, Malcolm Midgley, said a boomslang's bite could be fatal.
"The boomslang is usually very timid and live in trees and it is unusual for them to bite people.
"They usually only do so if they are handled or intimidated.
"If the people had left the snake alone it is highly unlikely they would have had a problem," said Midgley.
Boffard said snakes were quite prevalent at the moment because the unusually heavy rains in certain areas had helped to distribute them more widely than usual.
"Snakes are often not easy to identify, especially as some can vary in colour between the sexes and between juveniles and adults.
"Even in this case the snake was initially incorrectly identified as a vine snake, but experts later identified it as a juvenile boomslang from photographs of the snake taken by the victims."
Boffard said South Africa had several venomous snakes including the Cape cobra, spitting cobra, puff and night adders, black and green mambas, stiletto snake and others.
"All bites should be treated as a medical emergency as one can usually not be certain if the bite was from a venomous snake.
"Bites by snakes that are considered non-venomous can cause infection or allergic reaction," he said.
- SAPA