Man in ICU Paphos after snake bite

[memory man]

A 55-year-old man was in intensive care at Paphos General Hospital on Sunday after being bitten by a snake in his village.

The man was bitten while out in his field and was taken to the hospital emergency room where doctors admitted him to intensive care as a precaution.

There are nine recognised species of snake in Cyprus. While most are harmless, three are venomous, although one doesn’t cause a poisonous bite to humans, due to the position of its fangs.

The blunt-nosed viper is the most dangerous and a snake bite requires immediate medical attention.

The bite inflicted by a blunt nosed viper is highly poisonous but they will only attack in self defence. If a viper is disturbed, it will hiss loudly as a warning before striking.

This viper is a large, long snake and can vary in colour. It’s often found close to water and areas which provide shade such as rocks, shrubs. When it does strike, its fangs are embedded into the victim and a large amount of venom is pumped into the wound.

The Montpellier snake is also venomous but its bite is not life-threatening. The Cat Snake’s bite is painful, but not dangerous.

source:- http://cyprus-mail.com/2017/04/30/man-i ... nake-bite/

[trevnhil]

Today's job is strimming, so I had better keep a good lookout in the undergrowth..

Trev..

[Dominic]

I have currently got bruised and bloodied knees, because I was walking up a dryish streambed in the Akamas yesterday when I had to jump to avoid treading on a rather large viper that was sunning itself on a rock. I still don't know which of the two of us was the most surprised, but the trousers I was wearing will have to be turned into shorts as they got torn rather badly where I landed.

[emgee]

Dominic

Be careful out there.

Alan

[cyprusmax47]

I have currently got bruised and bloodied knees, because I was walking up a dryish streambed in the Akamas yesterday when I had to jump to avoid treading on a rather large viper that was sunning itself on a rock. I still don't know which of the two of us was the most surprised, but the trousers I was wearing will have to be turned into shorts as they got torn rather badly where I landed.

I thought about snakes when it was actually too late returning from a expedition with camera from Aphrodite Beach area, in order to do some pics for my next blog. Your incident will be a warning for me to avoid such stupidity as I got stuck several times in prickly bushes where in case of a snake there, it would not be funny at all. On the other hand it was very very dry.... but remember streambeds are the places where I went out in the past to catch them as helper from Snake George as it is their favorite place to be. I hope you will be OK after a couple of days. Did the snake disappear high speed if you remember?
Max

[Dominic]

Yes it did. I had my camera in my hand at the time, and had dropped the case right where the snake was. Once I had picked myself up (very quickly), I looked at the case, but the snake was nowhere to be seen. Nevertheless, I got a very big stick and used that to move the case a safe distance away before picking it up.

A quick dip in the ocean today has helped heal the damaged knee.