Snake bite rots away Venezuelan girl's leg - TomoNews

An unidentified 13-year-old Venezuelan girl is battling for her life after her leg turned black from severe necrosis after she was bitten by a snake.Apparently when the girl was first bitten, she also suffered a broken elbow. The bite cut one of the arteries in her leg and the excess bleeding led to ‘compartment syndrome’. A condition when pressure inside a compartment such as the leg causes a decrease in blood supply to the affected muscles.She was treated using local remedies which probably only included antibiotics. She mostly likely wasn’t treated for the snake venom, which can cause nerve paralysis and blood clots.She was finally taken to Caracas for treatment a month later, but by that time her leg had already turned black from severe necrosis. The necrosis is now spreading up her leg. The rest of her body also showed signs of muscle atrophy from the venom.The necrosis then led to a condition called rhabdomyolysis, where muscle tissue starts to die throughout the body. Rhabdomyolysis can lead to kidney failure and death if untreated.Doctors have said the leg will need to be amputated, but that the girl may still die from the poison.