Queensland

Cairns man, bitten by a taipan, dies in hospital

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A man bitten by a taipan at his Cairns home has died after spending nearly a week in hospital.

David Pitt, 77, went into cardiac arrest after the highly venomous snake bit him on the foot at his Yorkeys Knob home last Tuesday night.

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Queensland man dies from Taipan bite

After being bitten on the foot by a highly venomous Taipan snake last Tuesday night, David Pitt, 77, went into cardiac arrest and died after spending nearly a week in hospital. Vision supplied by ABC News 24.

Paramedics at the scene performed CPR and injected him with antivenom, before he was rushed to Cairns Hospital where he died on Monday.

Last week, paramedic Valerie Noble said Mr Pitt had been bitten between his toes after he tried to kill the snake.

"There was quite a lot of blood on scene so potentially the snake had actually hit a vein instead of just into the tissue itself so it was quite a rapid almost injection of the venom," she said.

"This time of year, with the heat and the rain and everything the snakes are a lot more lively and they are on the move a bit more so just be careful as to when you're moving stuff and digging in bushes and things."

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Coastal taipans are the sixth most venomous land snakes in the world, and the third most venomous Australian snake.

The snake's venom, a neurotoxin, affects the bloods ability to clot. Untreated, taipan bites are always fatal.

A report into the Mr Pitt's death will be sent to the coroner.

- with AAP