Woman survives deadly black mamba bite

MBOMBELA – Local resident, Amanda Bloem, got the fright of her life when she was bitten by a black mamba on the palm of her hand on Saturday. Little did she know that she would be back at work on Monday.

Amanda’s husband, well-known snake catcher Barend Bloem, recovered the black mamba from a family home in KaMagugu the previous day. “The woman who phoned me was just too happy when I came to catch the snake as she has small children in the house,” says Barend.

While moving the bag the snake was kept in Amanda felt a light prick on her palm. “It really felt nothing more than a needle prick. I stayed calm and told Barend what happened and could see he got very worried,” she recalls. According to Barend he really had to keep his head together and keep track of time and symptoms while trying to deal with the anxiousness.

“It didn’t take very long before I started feeling needles and pins and funny prickling sensations in my face. It was fine at first but when I tried to get up from the chair I felt totally dizzy and disoriented,” Amanda explains.

Here’s Barend in action catching a black mamba:

She knew that to panic would only make things worse and constantly reminded herself that she just needed to stay calm and relaxed. “I even joked about the bite just to ease my nerves a little,” she giggles, adding, “By the time I got in the car to go to hospital I was sitting with my face right in front of the air conditioner to counteract the hot flushes.”

Also read: 8 Most-dangerous snakes of the Lowveld

Amanda remembers arriving at Rob Ferreira Hospital but after that she doesn’t recall much. According to Barend they were attended to within minutes and the doctor, who had just returned from another patient, knew exactly what to do and immediately administered a drip and attached Amanda to a monitor.

By 02:00 on Sunday the symptoms had weakened to the extent that antivenom did not need to be administered. Amanda was discharged and although she still experienced some pain and a little swelling, she was ready to return to work on Monday.

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According to well-known reptile specialist and owner of Lowveld Venom Suppliers, Chris Hobkirk, cases like these are not uncommon at all.

“People need to know that even when you get bitten and display symptoms such as that of Amanda, you can be fine even without antivenom.” Hobkirk says in his experience close to 90 per cent of snake bites on humans are dry bites or are by snakes that don’t have venom at that stage. As far as the incident goes Hobkirk states that Barend is a very valuable member of the snake-catching community and the only volunteer that he allows to assist with venom milking at his facility.

“It is unfortunate that something like this happened and we are all just happy that it turned out fine. “The reality, however, is that these guys put themselves and their families at risk to ensure the safety of other people, and mishaps like this one are bound to happen from time to time.”