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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.
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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.
The man was bitten by a taipan in his home. Photo: Pat Scala
"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.