Sixty people in a village in South Africa have been rushed to hospital with diarrhoea, vomiting, and a load of other symptoms. It is reported that they got so ill because they ate meat from a cow that had been killed by a cobra.
According to the reports, the venom settled in the flesh of the cow and was then transferred to anyone who ate it.
About 16 kids were involved and had to be ferried to the hospital, eight of them were transferred for specialist care at the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital's paediatric ward.
Others, including a few elderly people, were taken to the Mthatha Regional Hospital on Tuesday.
It is not known whether any of the victims are in danger of dying.
The events happened in the village of Mpoza, which is in the Eastern Cape area of South Africa. The local government is also making plans in case more people are taken ill as a result of eating the dead cow.
The government has also issued warnings against eating animals that are found dead, as incidents like this can happen if the animal has died after being attacked by a venomous creature.
South Africa's Eastern Cape Department of Health spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo, said: "Given the mass casualty nature of the incident, St Barnabas Hospital in Libode has also been put on standby to create space for additional patients that don't require tertiary or regional services.
"The department is urging communities to stop consuming meat from dead animals you find as it is dangerous to do so."
Cobra venom uses postsynaptic neurotoxins (nope, me neither) that move very, very quickly around the body of any victim and shut down their respiratory system causing failure and (usually) death.
They are part of the Elapidae family of venomous snakes that are found in tropical and subtropical parts of the world.
Snakes will often hide in long grass and can be provoked into biting by grazing animals such as cows.
Farmers and snakes in that part of the world tend to get along OK as a general rule. Often snakes will 'dry bite' livestock without injecting venom as a warning, and they are also pretty damn good at killing rats and mice.
Not that you need telling twice after this, but if you find a dead animal and you live in one of these parts of the world, probably best not to eat it.
In fact, wherever you live, probably best not to eat it. Unless you want to end up like this guy.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: World News, south africa, Snakes, Animals