A very young Brazilian boy has sent cold shivers down several people's spines when he bit a snake to death in his backyard.
The 17-month-old Brazilian boy fatally bit a killer snake after it approached him while he was playing in the back garden of his home.
According to media reports, the child miraculously survived the incident which took place on Sunday, November 1.
IOL News reports that the boy was playing outside Nohis home in Mostardas, a city in Brazil’s southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, when he encountered the snake.
Jaine Ferreira, the boy’s mother told local radio Gaucha that she found him with a wriggling snake in his mouth when she went to check on him. Apparently, the boy had clamped the snake down, preventing it from being able to bite back.
Ferreira said the boy was immediately taken to the hospital, where doctors confirmed he had no injuries or symptoms of being poisoned.
Experts identified the snake as a Bothrops jararaca, which is an endemic pit viper in South America. It is believed that the bite of a jararaca carries a fatality rate of 70 percent if left untreated.
A 2008 study published in PLoS Medicine, states that an estimated 20,000 human deaths occur each year from snakebites, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Further studies show that with the unreported incidents of snakebites, the total fatality may be as high as 94,000.