This horrific picture shows a young girl's leg that has shrivelled and turned completely black after being bitten by a snake.
The snake’s venom caused severe necrosis – the premature death of cells.
This caused the tissue in her leg to die, leaving it withered and rotten.
The 13 year old girl suffered severe
necrosis - the premature death of cells - due to a snake bite that was
treated with local indigenous remedies for a month before she was
brought to a hospital in Carcaras
The 13-year-old girl, who is unidentified, was first treated by remedies from the indigenous culture she was from, according to a photograph posted on Instagram by the username 'juventudmedica'.
A month later she was eventually brought to Carcaras, Venezuela,for medical treatment.
One
doctor, who has seen the photograph, told MailOnline the girl will need
her leg amputated but is still likely to die from the snake venom.
Dr Arun Ghosh, a private GP in Liverpool, said: ‘Snake venom is very complicated and depends on the species of snake.
'But
the picture shows clearly severe tissue necrosis that will need
amputation, though she still may die from this due to the nature of the
poison.
‘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.'
He
added that the necrosis has led to a condition called rhabdomyolysis,
in which muscle tissue will begin to die throughout the body.
Rhabdomyolysis
can result in damage to the kidneys, which coupled with low blood
pressure, can lead to kidney failure and even death if left untreated,
he said.
Being
treated with local remedies probably meant she was given antibiotics,
but not treatment to adequately control poisoning from the snake venom,
which contains agents that paralyse the nerves and cause the blood to
clot.
Snake venom, such as from the bothrops
viper common in Venezuela, contains agents that paralyse the nerves and
cause the blood to clot so the snake can paralyse its prey
Dr
Ghosh said: ‘This girl has had classic rural treatment which is often
only able to treat local infection secondary to the bite (at best say
equal to antibiotics).
'But
she is unlikely to have received anti-venom treatment (which entails
giving treatment to stop blood clotting) to keep her blood flowing
through her body.’
The photograph’s caption said the girl also suffered a broken elbow from the incident with the snake.
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.
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