WHO recommends seeking medical help immediately after a snake bite.
A drunk man from Andhra Pradesh landed in the hospital after provoking a venomous cobra for over an hour. Madhubabu Nagaraju, who was heavily intoxicated, spotted the cobra slithering into college premises in Kadiri and caught hold of it. The serpent tried to escape into a nearby thicket but was unable to do so.
Despite frantic warnings from bystanders and villagers, Mr Nagaraju continued to 'play' with the snake recklessly for over an hour. The cobra, tired of being provoked, eventually bit the man, and he had to be hospitalised.
A video of the reckless incident is circulating on social media.
Watch here:
"Is he alive?" a concerned user asked on X.
Another user wrote, "Instead of making a video, someone could have pulled him aside and allowed the snake to escape. The snake was very patient for a long time."
Someone else ironically commented, "Nagaraju bit by nagaraja." "Nagaraja" can be literally translated to "King of Snakes", i.e., the cobra.
"Cobra had so much patience," a comment read.
Earlier, a 35-year-old Bihar man was bitten by a snake while he was asleep. Driven by a superstition, he bit the snake back twice, killing it. However, he was also hospitalised due to the snake's venom. He recovered quickly and was discharged the next day.
In a separate incident, a man from Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur district survived five snake bites in two months.
The bites occurred on June 2, June 10 and June 17, and twice in July. Despite this unusual series of events, the man's condition is now stable, leaving medical professionals astonished and labelling the case "strange".
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends seeking medical help immediately after a snake bite, rather than trying to suck out the venom or biting the snake back.