Girl's Leg Rot, Mummified After Venomous Snake Bite

A young girl’s leg has shrivelled and turned completely black after being bitten by a snake, Carcaras, Venezuela.

Warning: graphic content!

The unnamed 13-year-old girl suffers severe leg necrosis – the premature death of cells - caused  by the snake’s venom. The poison caused the tissue in her leg to die, leaving it withered and rotten. A month later she was eventually brought to local hospital for medical treatment.

The 13 year old girl suffered severe necrosis due to a snake bite

One of the doctors said that the girl will need her leg amputated but is still likely to die from the snake venom. Being treated with local remedies probably meant she was given antibiotics, but not anti-venom treatment to adequately control poisoning from the snake venom.

Commenting the photo he said, “The whole lower leg is black, it’s spreading up. Looking at the rest of her body she’s showing signs of muscle wastage from the poison. Her other leg is thin. It’s likely she will still die.”

Snake venom contains agents that paralyse the nerves and cause the blood to clot so the snake can paralyse its prey

he photograph’s caption said the girl also suffered a broken elbow from the incident with the snake bite. The bite caused a laceration to the artery in her leg and the resulting bleeding led to what’s known as ‘compartment syndrome’. This is a serious condition when pressure within a compartment such as the leg causes a decrease in blood supply to the affected muscles.