MTUNZINI resident Dale Dixon says she’s fortunate to be alive after being bitten multiple times by a Forest cobra.
Speaking from her bed in the ICU ward at Ngwelezana Hospital, a heavily sedated Dixon said she was bitten at least eight times on her hands – six times on her right hand and twice on her left hand – when the snake struck while she was socialising with a group of friends at Nature’s Way Backpackers in Mtunzini on Sunday.
‘I am just happy that I’m alive,’ she said.
Still in a state of disorientation, Dixon could not clarify exactly how she came to be bitten, but said she was grateful for the quick and decisive action of Brendan Bristow, owner of Nature’s Way Backpackers, who ensured she received the right treatment in time.
‘Brendan immediately knew what to do when he saw I had been bitten.
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‘I didn’t realise the snake was a Forest cobra.
‘On the way to the hospital, I was feeling fine until we travelled past the eSikhaleni area. That’s when I started to feel drowsy,’ she said.
Dixon collapsed as soon as she reached the reception area at Ngwelezana Hospital and was immediately rushed to ICU for treatment.
She said she was extremely appreciative of the good care she received at the hospital, which has one of the best snake bite treatment centres in the country.
According to members of her family, she has made good progress and is being transferred to a general ward today (Thursday), where doctors will continue to monitor her before a decision is taken when to discharge her.
While many would hold some sort of resentment towards any reptile bringing them to a near death experience, Dixon said, ‘It was really a very pretty snake’.
The Forest cobra, also commonly called the black cobra, is the largest true cobra species with a total length of up to 3.1 metres.
Bites to humans are less common compared to other African cobras, owing to various factors, though a bite from this species is a life-threatening emergency.
