BARBARA COLE
THE nightmare ordeal of a little girl who was bitten by a Mozambican spitting cobra is going to help in the treatment of other snake bite victims.
Five-year-old Mikayla Robbertse was bitten twice by the snake just before Christmas and has been in hospital since, after undergoing a series of operations which included removing dead tissue from her arm and hand that the poison had eaten away.
She has also had to undergo skin grafts.
Her grandmother, Charmain Robbertse, who has been by her bedside at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria, decided to keep a photographic record of the various medical procedures.
Now her unique record is going to be included in a book to be written by snake expert Arno Naude.
“No one has ever documented the whole treatment process in a snake book before,” said Mikayla’s grandmother.
“I hope it will help someone, perhaps another victim. Doctors also need to know about the procedures. I am told that they receive only three hours’ training about snake bites in their seven years of study.”
Mikayla was bitten twice by the cobra at her grandparents’ rented Lephalale (Ellisras) farm on December 19.
Her family heard her screaming and, when they went to investigate, found the snake in her bed and saw that she had been bitten on a finger and her left elbow. One of her brothers killed the snake.
Her hand immediately started to swell and she was rushed to Ellisras, a provincial hospital, to receive anti-venom. She was transferred to the Montana Hospital, north of Pretoria, for specialised treatment the following day.
“That first night, I was frantic, but I stayed calm to get through it.
“I’m saving my nervous breakdown until later this year,” Robbertse said last night.
The little patient was eventually transferred to the Steve Biko Hospital because the family does not have medical aid.
Mikayla had lung, liver and kidney problems as a result of the bites.
Doctors did not operate for 10 days as they wanted the venom to run its course: to do the damage that it wanted to do. Her hand went pitch black as the tissue died off.
Then, after poison had eaten away tissue on her arm, she went into theatre for the first of six operations.
These involved removing the dead muscle that the venom had eaten and plastic surgery.
Skin was taken from her left upper thigh and transferred to her arm and the hospital has already said it is healing “beautifully”.
Then an incision was made in her groin and her swollen finger and hand implanted, where they had to remain for three weeks.
The idea was that the healthy skin in her groin would help with skin growth and the blood flow in her finger and hand.
This week, the procedure was successfully completed and the blood flow to her hand is good.
Although there had been fears that she would lose her finger, doctors have managed to save it.
Mikayla has already had her first session of physiotherapy to improve the use of her hand and arm. In six months she will have to return to the theatre for reconstruction surgery.
The left-handed Mikayla has now learned to use her right hand.
“She is an amazing girl and a fighter. This ordeal has made her stronger,” her grandmother said.
Mikayla was expected to be discharged from hospital today.
Durban herpetologist Jason Arnold, of uShaka Marine World’s Dangerous Creatures attraction, says Mozambican spitting cobras are very common in Durban and are the most common of the highly venomous snakes.
If victims take their time – say a day – to get to hospital for treatment, they could die, he says.
The most dangerous snakes in the region are black mambas, followed by green mambas and then Mozambican spitting cobras.