British woman in hospital after being bitten by venomous snake on holiday
A British woman has spoken about how she ended up in intensive care from a snake bite in Cyprus.
Sam West was meditating when she was bitten on the leg by the 5ft blunt-nosed viper while celebrating her 40th birthday earlier this month.
She said: ‘It quickly, before I had time to react, bit me just above my left ankle.
‘I started to shake the snake off as I shouted that I had just been bitten by a snake. My leg was burning and throbbing, the pain was instantaneous.’
Sam, from Shifnal Shropshire, was on holiday with her wife, Kate, at the Atlantica Aphrodite Hills.
But instead, she ended up spending five days in hospital and before finally being discharged last Monday.
She’s been using a wheelchair to get around, meaning she’s now paying £260 a night for a room with disabled access.
Now the couple are waiting to hear from their insurance company about when they could return home.
The injury was so bad she was not expecting to be deemed fit to fly until today.
Sam praised TUI staff at the hotel have since cleared vegetation around the meditation platform.
Meditation has also been moved to the indoor dance studio.
The blunt nose viper is one of three venomous snakes that live on Cyprus – the others include cat snakes and the eastern Montpellier snake.
A bite from a blunt nose viper is incredibly painful – those who are bitten by one often become seriously ill, and some have even died.
They are most active during the day, except in summer when they are more active in the mornings and evenings.
Ms West was finally discharged from hospital last Monday, but is not expected to be deemed fit to fly until today.
What to do if you're bitten by a snake
- Stay calm
- Keep the part of your body that was bitten as still as you can
- Lie in the recovery position if you are able
- Try to remember the colour and pattern of the snake to tell your doctor
- Take off any jewelry and loosen clothes near the bite, in case your skin swells
What do NOT do
- Do not go near the snake, or try to catch/kill it
- Do not try to suck or cut the poison (venom) out of the bite
- Do not tie anything tightly round the part of the body where the bite is
- Do not take aspirin or ibuprofen, as they can make bleeding worse
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