A man is counting his lucky stars and sighing with relief after nearly losing his genitals upon being bitten by a snouted cobra, which was nestled inside of a toilet.
The 47-year-old, who was on a safari in South Africa, took a trip to the lavatory, but little did he know that a highly venomous snake was hiding at the bottom of the bowl, and struck him right on the testicles.
According to LadBible, after the snake injected its venom, the man was transported to the nearest hospital, which was around 350kms away. The unbearable pain spread from his genitals to his stomach and chest as he started vomiting.
The Dutch man experienced a deep burning sensation, and his swollen genitals and deep purple discolouration indicated signs of ‘scrotal necrosis’, or a flesh eating disease.
Even though he was provided with emergency treatment in South Africa (anti-venom, tetanus and broad-spectrum antibiotics), an extensive amount of the tissue in his penis was unrecoverable and had to be cut away, Daily Mail reports.
Doctors performed a ‘surgical debridement’, which involves thoroughly cleaning the wound and removing all hyperkeratotic, infected, and dead tissue, while his penis also required a debridement, LadBible adds.
After spending nine days in a South African hospital, the Dutch man was then repatriated to the Netherlands, where surgeons started the process of rebuilding his penis using a graft of tissue they took from his groin.
Experts who reported the case in Urology Case Reports said the man was the first case ever recorded of scrotal necrosis with that snake species, noting in their comments to “Always flush the toilet before sitting down in countries notorious for their snake population!”
Picture: Unsplash / David Clode