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Snakes like these are giants. Black mambas can stretch up to 14 feet, and the longest king cobra ever recorded was 19 feet.
Puff adders are small on the other hand, as short as six inches and not more than six feet, but very thick. they have it long, retractable fangs which can deliver poison to the muscle.
Its venom destroys blood clotting factors and victims die slow and gruesome deaths, bloody in the brain, eyes and mouth.
Identifying the attacker can help personalize treatment. But many people never see the snake biting them, or if they do, they can’t identify it. To the untrained eye, venomous snakes may appear indistinguishable from harmless ones.
The names don’t make it any easier. Green mambas are green, but black mambas are pale gray to dark brown; they are called so because the inside of the mouth is black. They are best recognized by their coffin-shaped head and haunting grin.
Some scientists are build AI models to identify snakes, so anyone with a smartphone can tell them apart.
About a third of snakebites are in children. They occur less frequently among pregnant women, but the results – which include spontaneous abortion, placental abruption, abruption, fetal malformations and death of both mother and fetus – can be catastrophic.
Often the victims are farmers. The loss of a breadwinner devastates families.
Ruth Munuve’s husband worked as a driver in Nairobi and returned home to the family farm every other weekend. He was bitten on a Saturday in April 2020, aged 42, while walking through the brush on his way home from a night out.
Two hospitals struggling to treat Covid patients turned him down. When he died two days later, his body had swollen to twice its size, a hallmark of a viper bite, said his sister, Esther Nziu.
Ms Munuve now grows maize and cowpea, mainly for food, and sells green gram. Ms Nziu has five children but is doing her best to help raise her brother’s four children.
Money is scarce, but the women still paid to fortify the house. “I don’t want anyone else to be bitten by snakes,” said Ms. Nziu
