Student says an adder bite left him feeling ‘like a zombie from the Walking Dead’

‘We ordered drinks and food and I tried to forget about it but I was getting worse and worse – my leg was hurting so much and I could feel the pain rising up from the foot.

‘I was sweating buckets too and starting to feel faint and then I started actually throwing up.

‘I realised I needed to get to hospital. I don’t remember much about the next couple of hours. I was drifting in and out of consciousness, and felt like a zombie from the Walking Dead.’

He said the nurse initially thought he was having a panic attack after being stung by an insect.

He felt confused and developed the ‘worst fever imaginable’ as his leg – and his lips – swelled up.

Later on two tiny scratch marks appeared where the fangs had gone in.

Around six hours after the bite, tests confirmed it was from a snake and he was immediately put on an anti-venom drip.

Sol said: ‘I think the delay, and the fact I put ice on the wound at first, which I later discovered tends to make the venom concentrate in one place, made the whole thing worse, but I’m on the mend now.’

Sol was discharged from hospital more than two weeks ago after the bite on August 3, but was walking on crutches until two days ago.

His discharge letter from hospital lists his injury as ‘snake bite’ and records that he was given ‘Viperfav’, which neutralises the venom of the common European adder, Vipera berus.

Sol, a sports physiotherapy student, hopes that the incident won’t affect his rugby playing.

‘It’s taken me a while to get all the feeling back in my leg, but I’d say it’s about 80 per cent better now, so I’m pretty optimistic,’ he said.

‘Everyone who’s seen me on crutches assumed I’d twisted my ankle or hurt it playing sport, but when I tell them it was a snake bite, they just can’t believe it.

‘I guess we’re just not used to hearing about adder bites in this country.’

Snake bites are very uncommon in the UK, with around 50 to 100 reported each year, but since adder venom is intended to kill small animals, deaths are extremely rare.

According to the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust, just 14 fatalities have been attributed to adder bites since 1876, with the most recent being in 1975.

In general, the snakes are not aggressive, but they will bite if they feel threatened.

At the beginning of this month, however, there was a significant increase in adder sightings on British beaches.

They are often found along trails, on open heaths, and on grassy banks.

Adders are distinguishable by the zigzag pattern that runs down their backs.

They are venomous (organisms that bite to inject their toxins) rather than poisonous (toxins are unloaded when you eat them).