Six-year-old girl survives spitting cobra bite

A six-year-old KwaZulu-Natal girl is recovering in hospital following a snake bite at her Ballito home.

Mikayla-Sue Grove was bitten in the face by a Mozambique spitting cobra on Sunday night. Her mother‚ Inge‚ who had gone investigate‚ was sprayed in the eyes from a distance of about 30cm.

Snake expert and University of Pretoria snake bite treatment lecturer Arno Naude said on Tuesday that Mikayla-Sue was still on a ventilator due to her throat swelling. However‚ she was responding to her parents.

Naude was contacted by Mikayla-Sue's father for advice on Sunday evening shortly after the child and her mother were rushed to hospital.

"At the Ballito hospital the doctor did exactly what is expected. He started a drip with 10 vials of antivenom and then when the swelling reached her throat he intubated her so that she would not suffocate‚" Naude explained.

He said Mikayla-Sue was still sedated but has been waking up with complains about the tube in her throat and the pain due to the swelling.

"Her mother has recovered from the venom in the eyes and is with her daughter."

Naude said the child may suffer scarring‚ therefore a plastic surgeon was on call.

"The necrotic (dead) tissue on her chin does not look as bad as what I was expecting but the next week is critical. Deep tissue necrosis is not unusual with these snake bites‚" he explained.

Naude added that snake bite expert Dr Christoff Bell had helped with the treatment protocol while Dr Ian Lander was the doctor who treated Mikayla-Sue.

"They had done exactly what needed to be done. They are stars."

- TimesLIVE